Aki's Ouran Story
by Niera12
Summary: Aki was supposed to go to Tomoko High. She was supposed to stay and graduate with her old friends. Instead she gets put into Ouran Academy and has to make all new friends, and she has to survive being with the Host Club.
1. Prologue

Aki stood in her room, looking at herself in the mirror. She held her new school uniform in front of her and turned from side to side.

"Doesn't look as good as Tomoko High's or Tomoko Middle's," she said.

"It'll look good on you, Tomi-chan," Michiko said, leaning back on Aki's bed. Aki glanced back at her Aunt.

"Aki-chan, Auntie. It's Aki-chan."

"Oh, right, right, _Aki_-chan."

Aki looked back at herself in the mirror. The dress for the school wasn't very pretty. She didn't care a lot for dresses in the first place – she felt restricted in them – but she knew an ugly dress from a pretty dress and this was an ugly (and plain) one.

"Didn't you say this place – what, Ouran? – is a rich kids' school? The girl's uniform doesn't look very rich. Tomoko's sailor uniform looks better," Aki said. Michiko shrugged.

"It feels rich, though, doesn't it? Nice and silky."

"More like velvet, don't you think?"

"Eh, I can't tell one from the other."

Aki sighed and walked over to the bed, tossing the dress onto the headboard. "Why do I have to switch schools, Auntie?"

"You know why. The education's better than Tomoko's."

"But I like Tomoko."

"I'm sure you'll like Ouran, too. I heard the food's better, and the school's bigger."

"I don't want a bigger school."

"It'll be fine, Tomi-chan."

"And I don't even know anyone there! It's not like any of the kids Mom made me play with are there."

"You're a great girl. I'm sure you'll make a lot of friends one your first day!"

Aki frowned at her aunt. "Auntie, I don't think I'll like these people. I mean, can they let loose? I don't think any of them burp on purpose."

"Young ladies aren't supposed to burp on purpose."

"You sound like Mom."

"I was trying to."

"Anyway, do they like video games like I do? How about shows I like? Or books? Or music? I don't think I'm going to be able to make great friends with any of them!"

Michiko got up and shook her head. "You're being ridiculous, Tomi," she said, tousling Aki's hair. "You don't actually believe none of those kids like the same things you do."

"I don't, but they've gotta be different than the guys and girls at Tomoko. My _friends_."

"Oh, don't try to guilt me. I've already payed for Ouran and the uniform. You're going."

Aki huffed and sat on her bed. "This is all Mrs. Nakamura's fault."

"Hey, Mrs. Nakamura wants you to have a great education, too. She cares about her son's friends. Now try on the dress so I can see how it looks actually on you."


	2. Chapter 1

Aki looked around before stepping out of her house. There didn't seem to be anyone out of their houses at the moment. Good, she just needed to slip away before any of her friends left for school.

She hurried down the street, the heels of her Mary Janes clicking against the ground with each step. It was painfully quiet and she was certain someone was going to pop out at her.

"I still have time to get far enough away before even Mrs. Nakamura gets up," she murmured, checking her watch. Then again...Mrs. Nakamura liked to get up before even the sun did. Aki shook her head and sped up her pace. She did _not _want to get caught by that woman. She'd end up having her head chatted off about how cute she looked and then she'd be late to school. And even worse, her friends would see her in the dress! They would never stop teasing her about how silly she looked.

Finally, _finally_, Aki made it to the town just outside her neighborhood. She hurried to the train station, being careful not to cross paths with the business men riding their bikes to work (she'd gotten ran over by one of those guys once and that was _not _fun), and got her ticket to go to the city. It wasn't too far, she could ride her bike there, but she'd rather take the train since it was faster. The only problem was that she knew a lot of the people that rode the train, including some of Michiko's co-workers. Those guys were also the type who also wouldn't stop teasing her.

The train arrived and everyone got on. Aki sat down and glanced around for Michiko's co-workers. She didn't see them, so maybe they were in another car, or not there at all.

The train took off. The rumble of the wheels over the tracks helped Aki relax, which was good. She didn't want to show up to her first day at a new school looking all tense.

"Wow, what a nice dress," the woman next to her commented. She almost didn't know that the woman was talking to her until she glanced over and saw the woman looking her up and down.

"Oh, thanks," Aki said.

"What school do you go to?"

"Ouran Academy – a private school, I think."

"Really? I've heard of that school before! I wanted my own kids to go, but we didn't have the money. Your parents must be pretty wealthy to get you into there."

"Yeah, they are."

"Though I wonder, will they allow that hat?"

Aki unconsciously raised her hand to her beanie. It was dark gray and didn't go well with her uniform, but she wanted to wear it, anyway. Her head felt naked without something on it.

"I don't know yet. Ah...Here's my stop." She got up once the train stopped and the station was announced. "Goodbye," she said, flashing the woman a smile.

"Goodbye. And do your best!"

"I will."

Aki hurried off of the train. Ugh. She hated talking to adults she didn't know! It felt so weird and awkward.

"Tomi-chan?" She nearly flinched when she heard the voice. Glancing to her right, she noticed one of the guys from Michiko's job. Damn it.

"Jin," she muttered. The Korean man walked up to her with a goofy grin on his face. His hair was all messy and his clothes were ruffled and wrinkled. He looked like he'd just walked out of bed and his eyes had that sort of caffeine buzz look.

"Look at you, Tomi-chan," he said with a chuckle. "You look like a doll."

"Shut up, Jin."

"Did Michi have to force you into it or what?"

"Jin."

"You look pretty adorable."

"Jin!"

Jin laughed and patted her head. She glowered at him and pushed his hand away, then readjusted her beanie. "How many times have I told you to not pat my head?"

"How many times have I listened?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Look, Jin, I have to get to school, and shouldn't you be at work?"

"I'm gonna go, I'm just waiting for a few friends to show up and we can head off to the garage. Now, you go on along, Tomi-chan –"

"_Aki_."

"_Tomi_-chan. Hurry and get to school. You would want to be late on your first day, would you? By the way, the beanie looks nice. It gives the outfit that Tomi-chan flair, you know?"

Aki rolled her eyes. "Goodbye, Jin."

"See ya."

Aki checked her watch and hurried away from the train station. Stupid Jin! It was his fault if she was late now. She nearly broke into a run outside the station, but she didn't want to show up to school all smelly. And pit stains on the dress? No thank you.

It felt like forever until she finally saw the school's clock-tower (though it had really only been a few minutes). She sped up her pace even more until she reached the gates. She paused and looked around before stepping into the courtyard.

The school was as grand as ever. It was large, had multiple buildings, a huge, beautiful yard (what did these guys even need a big yard for anyway? Sightseeing?), a fountain right in front of the school, and other things. It was way different from Tomoko High which was much smaller. She was pretty sure all the schools in the area were smaller than Ouran.

Students were here and there in their groups of friends, talking to one another. They all practically oozed wealth. She could smell the money on two boys who walked past her.

Aki slowly made her way towards the entrance of the school, glancing at just about everyone she passed. They were all pretty attractive, actually. Just looking at them made her feel like a troll. She knew she was pretty, really, but she was middle-class pretty. These girls were upper-class pretty. They could afford the good stuff. Not that Aki couldn't either, but she preferred not to spend her money on make-up or a pro hairstylist.

The first bell rang just as she was passing the fountain (which was not what she expected it to be). The kids in the courtyard turned and headed for the school, but they still had a leisurely pace. Meanwhile Aki had sped up again. She didn't mean to since she was pretty sure it'd be a while until the tardy bell rang, but her body acted on its own. After being late to class so many times at her old school, she just tended to walk faster whenever she heard the bell.

Once inside, Aki walked around, trying to remember where class 1-A was. Honestly, she was surprised that she'd made it into 1-A. She didn't think her pedigree was _that _great. Maybe she just had good grades? But at least she wasn't in any D classes. She'd heard that the yakuza's kids went there.

_Can't believe they let yakuza kids in here anyway, _she thought.

Aki found 1-A just in time. As soon as she sat down the tardy bell rang. Everyone who was lounging around outside the class hurried inside and sat down. The teacher went to the front of the class and had them stand and bow before introduced himself as Mr. Watanabe. He then went on to say what he liked to do and what a few of his favorite things were. Then he asked the class to do the same, only they had to say what their parents' jobs were and what they wanted to be after school. They went across the rows, introducing themselves, saying what their parents were (a lot were business owners. Aki made sure to remember which kid went to which company in case she'd need to get on their good side), and what they wanted to do (most of the answers were to be a model or actor or singer, etc.). Then it came to Aki. She stood up and glanced around. All eyes were on her and she didn't like it.

"My name is Aki Fukuda," she said, keeping her eyes on the classroom instead of her classmates. "My mom is...um...a model and she works for a magazine company as an editor, I think, and my dad...is an actor." At least, she was pretty sure that's what they were. "I don't know what I want to be when I grow up."

"Thank you, Miss Fukuda," Mr. Watanabe said. Aki sat down and glanced around again. She heard the other kids muttering to each other, probably wondering who these Fukudas were. They also probably wondered who this new kid was.

After all the introductions were said and done, Mr. Watanabe went on to explain the schedule. They would stay in the same class for their usual core classes and switch classes for any electives. Nothing really out of the ordinary, although Mr. Watanabe did say he would be teaching all the core classes. He then made a list of the electives and which classes they were in on the whiteboard. Aki made sure to write down the classes for her own electives. Once he was done, the bell for the end of homeroom rang.

"Oh, is it that time already?" he said, checking his watch. "You all should go use the bathroom if you need to. I need to get ready for the next lesson."

Immediately almost everyone broke into chatter. Aki and a few other people got up to go to the restrooms. She hadn't realized it, but she _really _needed to pee.

She didn't expect going to the restroom would be such a hassle. Her dress was a pain to deal with. She had to pull the skirt past her waist but some of the cloth kept falling down so she ended up holding it in a ball behind her back, but it was probably going to get wrinkled and her aunt would not like that. It probably wouldn't have been that much of a hassle if she'd used one of the western-style toilets.

Once that was over, she flushed the toilet and washed her hands, then headed back to the classroom. She sat down and busied herself by studying her schedule and memorizing where her elective classes were. She should have taken the map that Michiko had brought her.

"Hey!" She jumped when two hands slammed down on her desk. Looking up, she found that they belonged to the twins in class. They had auburn hair that was styled in the same way – although, one twin had his hair parted on the left and the other on the right – and amber eyes that had a look in them that she didn't know if she liked.

They were the Hitachiins. She only remembered their last name because Michiko was in love with their mom's clothing. She could not, however, remember their first names, and even if she could she probably wouldn't remember which belonged to which.

"Hey?" she said, wondering why they were talking to her at all.

"Your name's Aki?" the one on the right with the left parting asked. She nodded.

"Is that short for something?" the one on the left with the right parting asked.

"Like Akio?"

"Akiko?"

"Akiha?"

"Akira?"

"Akina?"

"Akie?"

"Akiho?"

"Akino?"

"Akiyo?"

"Akimi?"

"Akihabara?"

"Akihabara?" the one on the left asked, looking at his brother. The one on the right shrugged.

"It's possible."

"No, it's just Aki, like autumn," Aki said. She didn't want to say that she'd originally gotten Aki from Akihabara.

"How boring," Righty said.

"It would be cooler if it stood for something," Lefty said. Aki shrugged.

"Well, what are your names?" she asked.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Righty asked.

"We already said them when we introduced ourselves," Lefty said.

"Not like we really needed to."

"Mr. Watanabe probably made us just for the new people."

"What? Aki and that commoner guy over there?"

_'Commoner?'_ Aki wondered. She looked around. Were they talking about the scholarship boy? Did rich people call lower class people commoners? That seemed...rude.

"Where did you come from, anyway?" Righty asked, bringing Aki's attention back to them. "We've never seen you here before."

"Some other prefecture? Or maybe another island?" Lefty said.

Aki shook her head. "No, I live around here. I used to go to Tomoko Middle School."

The room seemed to go quiet at that. People starter looking back at Aki like she'd said something really strange, which she probably did.

"'Tomoko Middle School?'" the twins repeated, looking at each other and frowning. "Isn't that a commoner's school?"

"It's not a rich school like this, if that's what you mean," Aki said.

"But didn't you say your mom was a model and an editor for a magazine?" a girl at the desk nest to her asked.

"And your dad's an actor?" a boy said.

"Yeah, they are," Aki said with a nod.

"Then how come –"

At that moment the bell for the next class rang. The Hitachiins gave her a weird look before going to their seats.

"Wow..." Aki muttered, looking at the lunch choices. They were amazing! Choice A was Steak with a boiled potato, probably the best vegetables money could buy, and some sort of soup that she didn't know the name to but was probably amazing. Choice B was meat udon with crispy fried chicken and steamed vegetables. They also gave out cakes, some sort of souffle, and pudding among other things for a dessert.

Aki pressed a hand over her stomach as it gave a low growl. Her mouth was watering. This was the best lunch she'd ever seen! And to think she was going to take a bento with her!

"Choice B, please," she said to the woman serving the food. She was immediately handed a tray with all the food on it. She payed for her food and moved on to the desserts, grabbing a chocolate cake and a yokan.

Aki found an empty table and sat down. She pulled her phone out of her bag and took a picture of the lunch to show her friends when she got home.

"Hi, Aki!" Two girls had appeared at the table just as she was about to start eating. One of them had short, light brown hair stopping just above her shoulders and eyes that were the color of caramel, framed by long eyelashes. Her features were soft and gave her a sort of innocent look. Her skin was almost milky white. She looked like a doll. The other girl was taller and had long, black hair that reached her waist. Her eyes were a darker brown, like coffee, and her skin was a bit tan. She had a more mature look to her than her friend did.

"Can we sit here?" one of them asked. Aki nodded.

The girls sat down on the opposite side of the table (not that she minded. She was glad neither of them sat next to her). Aki went right to eating chicken and did her best to not pig out in front of them.

"So, Aki, are you going to the Host Club after school?" one girl, the doll-looking one, asked after a moment. Her name was...what again? Emiko, probably.

Aki swallowed the bit of chicken she was eating and gave Emiko a confused look. "Host Club?"

"Yeah, Host Club!" the other girl said...Kei? That sounded like it was probably her name.

"I've never even heard of it," Aki said. "Or any clubs for that matter."

"Really? Well, it's after school and almost all the girls go there to hang out with the six most handsome boys in the school!"

Aki looked around. All the boy here looked pretty handsome. Who were the handsomest?

As if she could read her mind, Emiko spoke up, "The handsomest boys in the school are: Takashi Morinozuka – we call him Mori – Mitsukuni Haninozuka – we call him Honey – Kyoya Ootori, Tamaki Suou, and Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin."

"The twins?" Aki asked. Emiko nodded. Well, she couldn't lie, they were pretty attractive. "So you guys just hang out with them after school?" Emiko nodded. "Okay...well, I don't think I'm going to go. I have to get home and do my homework." Not only that, but it didn't sound like a very interesting club.

"Aw, really?" Kei put on a pout. "You should come sometime. It's pretty fun from what my sister said."

So she didn't even know what the club was like? "No, but thanks for the offer."

"Maybe you can come some other time?" Emiko said. Aki shrugged. "Oh, or maybe you could join a club with us once they start up?"

"Maybe," Aki said. "Um...your names are Emiko and Kei, right?"

Kei chuckled and shook her head. "No, it's Rei. Rei Noguchi, and she's Emiko Arai."

"Oh, right."

For the rest of lunch Aki ate and listened to Rei go on about the school and Emiko talk about how her parents almost sent her to an all-girls school. While they were talking she wondered what in the world possessed them to talk to her in the first place.

The bell for the end of lunch eventually rang. Aki (who knew she'd regret eating all that food later), Emiko, and Rei got up and put their trays away, then walked to class together. Aki was still pretty quiet and so was Emiko, but Rei made up for them by talking all the way there. These two weren't all that bad, actually. Maybe the school wouldn't be as bad as she thought.

"I'm home, Tomi-chan!" Michiko sang when she stepped into the house.

"Welcome home," Aki said. She'd changed out of her dress and was now laying on the couch in a tank top and sweatpants. Her red and white cap with 'H' embroidered on the front sat lopsidedly on her head.

Michiko walked into the living room. She had oil smudged all over her face and clothing and her skin was shining with sweat. Her hair was a mess, strands sticking every which way and some stuck to her forehead and neck. She reeked of oil and car feul.

"How was your day?" Aki asked.

"Long! We had a ton of cars come in today. It looked like a tornado had raged around the garage when I left." She shook her head and lifted her hand to wipe some sweat off of her forehead and ended up leaving a black mark in its place. "How was your day?"

"Good, actually. Well, not in the morning. I ran into Jin at the train station and he kept me there for a few minutes." Michiko chuckled and rolled her eyes. "Then I got to school and we had to give introductions. I think I confused everyone since I introduced myself as a Fukuda."

"Well, what else would your last name be?" Michiko said. Aki shrugged.

"Then when people heard I used to go to Tomoko, they got really confused. The classes were pretty great and not as hard as I expected...yet, anyway. During lunch I think I made two friends?"

"Really? What are their names?"

"Um..."

Michiko's smile fell. She crossed her arms and frowned at Aki. "Tomi, how can you not remember their names?"

"I wasn't paying much attention! I think one is Emiko and the other one is Kei."

"Last names?" Aki shrugged.

"Oh, Auntie, I've got a picture of my lunch because it was amazing. Oh! You never told me how much of a hassle it'd be to pee with a dress on!"

"Was that something I was supposed to tell you?"

"Well...no...but I wish someone could have told me." Michiko laughed and reached out to pat Aki's head, but she quickly leaned away. "No way. I'm not spending an hour getting stains out of this one."

"Oh, right. Well, anyway, I'm glad you had a good first day. Hopefully the rest of them will be better."

"Yeah, hopefully...hey, Auntie?"

"Yeah?"

"What's a Host Club?"

Michiko seemed to freeze. She looked down at Aki and gave her a confused look.

"How do you know what a host club is?" she asked.

"Emiko and Kei were talking about one going after school," Aki said. "Apparently six boys who are the handsomest of the school are holding it."

"Well, er, a host club is...it's a place where girls go to have guys flirt with them," Michiko said, a bit uncomfortably. "Light flirting, though, light flirting. I'm sure it's pretty light in your school, after all, you all are so young, you're not even twenty yet!"

"Right." Aki gave her Aunt a weird look, then turned away. "Go take a bath, weirdo, and deal with that mark on your forehead."

"Right!" Michiko turned and hurried to the bathroom. Aki shook her head. She was acting pretty weird about the club. Maybe she had gone to one.


	3. Chapter 2

Aki glanced around the cafeteria. She, thankfully, didn't see Emiko or Rei anywhere near her, so she quickly slipped out of the cafeteria with her tray in hand.

Now, it wasn't that she didn't like eating lunch with them or didn't like them at all, she did. In the three weeks that they had known each other, they'd become pretty good friends. Not good enough that she'd let them into her house or even take them to her neighborhood, but still pretty good. No, Aki liked those two. She just wanted to eat by herself for once.

Today's meal was juicy beef wellington with some sort of sauce drizzled over it, asparagus, and chopped potatoes. For dessert she had apple pie with cinnamon and whipped cream on top and some sort of Polish candy called Bird Milk.

Aki had no idea how these kids weren't fat yet with the things they ate. She was pretty sure she had already put on a few pounds by eating the main meals alone. She'd promised herself that she'd go running with Kasumi on the weekends and bring her own lunch to school, but she'd only done one of those things, and even then she only ran on Sundays and she didn't go very far (but that was because they'd get distracted so often).

She headed for class 1-A. It ought to have been empty at the moment. She knew Mr. Watanabe ate lunch with the other teachers, so he definitely wasn't there, and she couldn't think of anyone else who would be.

It wasn't until she's entered the room and set her tray down that she found out that someone did actually eat in there. She was about to sit down when she noticed Haruhi Fujioka sitting at his desk.

"Oh," she said, freezing when she noticed the guy. "Hi there."

Haruhi looked up from his own lunch (it looked like it was homemade) and gave Aki a small smile. "Hello."

Aki sat down and started eating her food. She felt really awkward. She'd wanted to leave as soon as she noticed Haruhi, but her tray had already been set down and she didn't want to seem rude.

She glanced back at Haruhi. She remembered during the first week he'd been wearing a large sweater and glasses and his hair looked unkempt. At some point he'd gotten an actual uniform and ditched the glasses and actually tamed his hair. Aki had no idea what had happened but she did know that some time after that she started hearing about Haruhi becoming part of the Host Club.

A few bites later, she decided to start some conversation. She hated being in a quiet room with someone else.

"So, do you eat in here all the time?" Aki asked, looking over at Haruhi who nodded.

"Yeah. It's pretty quiet in here, and the twins haven't found me yet, though I'm sure they will sooner or later," he said with a small sigh.

"The Hitachiins?" Haruhi nodded again. Oh, that was right. Ever since Haruhi got a new look the Hitachiins were more interested in him than ever.

"It's a matter of time before they drag me to the cafeteria."

Aki glanced at Haruhi's home-made lunch. It wasn't anything grand like the school's lunch. "You got in on a scholarship, right?"

"Yep."

"So your parents didn't pay for you to get in?"

"Not as much as everyone else's did."

"What do your parents do?"

"My mom was a lawyer, but she died ten years ago."

"Oh..." Aki's voice trailed off. That brought back the awkward atmosphere. "And, uh, your dad?"

"He works at an okama bar."

"What? No way!" She'd never heard _that _one before. "So he's...y'know...gay?"

Haruhi nodded again. "Yeah, though he wasn't totally gay until Mom died. Dad's also a professional transvestite."

"Seriously? Wow! Haruhi, I gotta meet your dad some day!"

"I'm sure he'd be happy to meet someone from school."

"I mean, of course, we'd have to know each other better before that happens. Kinda rude for someone you don't know well to show up at your door, huh? So, tell me about yourself."

"Aki-chan!" Rei and Emiko showed up on either side of Aki's desk.

"You ready to go?" Rei asked, an excited smile on her face. Aki sighed.

"Yeah," she said with a bit of a glum tone. Rei had talked Aki into saying yes to go to the Host Club, but she didn't think Rei would actually make sure she went. She'd planned on sneaking off after the school day was over, but now that was out of the question. She couldn't try and excuse herself either, because she'd used up all of her excuses already.

"Well c'mon," Rei said, motioning for her to get up. Aki grabbed her bag and got up.

"Don't worry, it'll be fun," Emiko said.

_Flirting doesn't sound like fun, _Aki thought. Not that she wouldn't like to be flirted with, but she'd rather it come from she liked or at least knew pretty well. Or maybe she wouldn't. She didn't know. No one had ever flirted with her before.

"We'll be sitting with Tamaki-senpai," Emiko said as the three of them left the classroom. Aki raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"Tamaki Suou, silly!" Rei said. "You've seen him."

"I have?"

Rei rolled her eyes. "Yes, you have. Remember, the blonde second-year?"

"Oh." She nodded, but she still had no idea who that was.

"There are different types of hosts, you know," Emiko said. "Tamaki-senpai is the princely type, Kyoya-senpai is the cool type, Mori-senpai is the wild type, Honey-senpai is the loli-shota type, Hikaru and Kaoru are the devil type, and Haruhi is the natural type."

_Loli-shota type? _Aki wondered. Weird.

"There are times slots, just so you know," Rei said. "We already have the first one for Tamaki-senpai, thankfully. We should have requested the others, too, since this is your first time going."

"I'll be fine with just Tamaki," Aki said.

"Maybe next time we can get the others?" Rei asked, looking at Emiko for approval.

"I think it'd be nice," she said with a nod.

The trio made their way to Music Room 3, joining up with a bunch of other girls along the way. Aki was surprised at how popular the club was. Maybe it would be fun.

Finally the large group of girl were standing in front of the room. They waited for a few minutes before the doors opened and they were greeted with rose petals and a chorus of, "Welcome."

Aki stood on her toes (though she was taller than most of the girls, anyway) and she saw the seven hosts. There was Haruhi, the twins, the blonde boy Rei must have been talking about, a guy with dark hair and glasses, a pretty tall guy, and...a kid?

The girls went inside and split off into groups. Aki, Emiko, Rei, and two other girls went with the blonde guy, Tamaki, to a coffee table with a two couches around it in the center of the room. Before any of them could sit down, Tamaki noticed Aki and walked up to her.

"And who is this lovely princess?" he asked.

"This is Aki Fukuda," Rei said with a grin, patting Aki's back. "She's a first timer to the club."

Tamaki flashed Aki a dazzling smile and took her free hand in his. "It's nice to meet you, Aki," he said, kissing the back of her hand. Aki's cheeks turned pink.

"Yeah, you too," she muttered, pulling her hand away and rubbing the spot where he'd kissed it.

"Go easy on her, okay, Senpai?" Emiko said. "She's only here to observe and see if she ever wants to come back." Tamaki chuckled and nodded.

"Anything you say, princess."

They all sat down and Tamaki went straight to flirting with the girls. He complemented their looks and personality, compared them to princesses and flowers, and would get close enough that he was nearly kissing them among other things. Aki was pretty glad he directed his lighter comments at her and didn't get close to her. Firstly because she would have felt really awkward (how would he know what to compare her personality to? And she did like her personal space) and secondly because she would have gotten all prepared for a kiss only to be disappointed (and a little relieved).

Aki focused more on the cakes than she did on Tamaki after a while. They'd served chocolate cake and it was absolutely delicious. She'd eaten three slices already and was craving a fourth. The tea was the best, too. She didn't usually drink much tea other than the green tea that came from a bottle, and she certainly had never had black tea. It was much sweeter than plain green tea, and she really liked it. She'd gone through five cups before she had to use the bathroom.

"Excuse me," she said, slipping her phone out of her bag before getting up and leaving.

In the bathroom she pulled out her phone and started texting Kasumi. She needed someone to talk to who wasn't either flirting with her or being flirted with.

_Kasumi, you there? _she sent. Almost instantly she got a reply.

_(oДo)!__ Aki-chan! Where are you?_

_I'm at my school._

_Why? Did you get in trouble? Me and Tetsuo can come over and rescue you!_

_I'm not in trouble, Kasumi, _Aki wrote, shaking her head. What kind of trouble did Kasumi think she'd get in for her to need to be rescued?

_Then why are you there?_

_I went with Rei and Emiko to the Host Club._

_Oh. Your new friends._

Aki rolled her eyes. _Yes, my new friends._

_What are they doing to you there? Do you need to be rescued?_

_No, Kasumi. I'm fine. This guy is just flirting with everyone in my group._

_Really?! A guy is flirting with you?_

_Yeah, sorta._

_No way! Aki-chan~! __o(≧▽≦ )o __Is he cute?_

_Yes, but it's not like that, Kasumi. He's flirting with five other girls, too. I'm pretty sure it doesn't mean anything really._

_(o__Д__o__lll__) Whaaat? What kind of guy is that? And you're all okay with it?_

_The other girls are head-over-heels for this guy, so I don't think they really care. I'm more focused on the cake and tea they served._

_ε-(´∀__; )__Of course you are._

"Aki-chan." It was Emiko's voice. Aki looked up, remembering where she was and realizing that she'd been sitting on the toilet for a while.

"Here," Aki said.

"Are you alright? You've been in there for a while."

"I'm fine, I was just texting a friend."

"In the bathroom? Ew." That was Rei.

"Oh please, Rei," Emiko said with a hint of irritation in her voice. "Don't act like you've never texted me in the bathroom or even called me. With raging diarrhea, too."

"Emiko!"

"Gross," Aki said while telling Kasumi that she had to go.

"Don't listen to her, Aki-chan!"

Aki smiled a bit and held her phone between her teeth before cleaning herself up. She stepped out of the stall and washed her hands, then turned to face Rei and Emiko. Rei's cheeks were pink and the tips of her ears were almost red.

"Our time was over," Emiko said, holding out Aki's bag. "Tamaki-senpai was asking about you, you know."

"Really?" Aki said, taking her bag and leading them out of the bathroom.

Rei nodded. "Yeah. We were all waiting for you after a while and he started saying, 'I hope she's alright.' He even asked us to give you this in case your stomach was hurting." She pulled out a box of ginger snaps from her bag and handed it to Aki.

"Is he always like this for girls with stomach aches?"

"Uh-huh. My sister said that once she was having really bad cramps and Tamaki-senpai showered her with food and drinks that were supposed to help. Well, he probably didn't shower her with 'em, but he did give her things to help her. She also said he and the other hosts would do the same with other girls."

Aki's eyebrows raised a bit. So they really did care about the girls. Huh.

"Ready to go?" Rei and Emiko appeared at Aki's desk. She sighed and nodded. Yet again she was going to the Host Club. This time the two had gotten time slots with every host aside from Tamaki. They wanted Aki to experience all the different types and at the end pick who she liked best.

_And I was gonna watch Midori Days today, _Aki thought sadly as she followed Rei and Emiko.

"First up is Kyoya-senpai," Rei said just as they reached the music room. "Then Mori-senpai and Honey-senpai, then Haruhi-kun, and finally Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun."

"Sounds like a lot," Aki said.

"It's not that much, actually," Emiko said. "Only four, if you think about it. Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai are one and Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun are one, too."

"Still..."

They waited around for a bit with the other girls that were there. Finally the doors opened and rose petals fluttered out.

"Welcome," the hosts said. Excited chatter rose up from the girls as they all stepped inside.

Rei and Emiko led Aki over to the glasses boy, Kyoya. He already had two older girls with him.

"Good afternoon, Kyoya-senpai," Rei and Emiko said in unison.

"Good afternoon, Senpai," Aki said and a quieter voice.

"Good afternoon," Kyoya replied, giving the three a small smile. He had only said two words and Aki was already in love with his voice.

Kyoya led his little group to a set of tables. He sat between one of the older girls and Rei while the other older girl sat by her friend, Emiko sat next to Rei, and Aki sat on the end.

"Kyoya-senpai," Emiko said, grabbing the boy's attention. She gestured to Aki. "This is Aki Fukuda." She stopped at that.

"Ah, yes." Kyoya smiled at Aki briefly, then turned to the notebook in his hand. "Aki Fukuda, age fifteen, in class 1-A. Your mother is a model and an editor for a fashion magazine, your father is a well-known actor, and you have four older siblings."

"Whoa, really?" Rei said, looking over at Aki. "You didn't tell us that!"

"You never asked," Aki said, shrugging. Meanwhile in her head she was wondering how this guy knew about her siblings. She'd never told anyone at the school. Not because she didn't wan to but, like she said, no one really ever asked.

As if Kyoya knew what she was thinking, he said, "I like to do a little research on all of our clients if you were wondering, Miss Fukuda."

"Oh." What else did he know, then?

One of the older girls grabbed Kyoya's attention. Aki turned hers to the tray of cookies on the table. There were sugar and chocolate chip cookies, arranged in a spiral along the tray. At the middle was a small basket with flower-shaped candies in them. Ornate teacups were placed around the tray with the handles facing outwards. What looked like black tea was inside, but when Aki picked up the cup and brought it closer she found that it had a different smell. It smelled almost like her aunt's favorite shampoo.

_Jasmine tea? _She wondered, bringing the cup to her lips and drinking. She didn't know what Jasmine tea was supposed to taste like, but if this was it then it was delicious.

While she drank the tea she watched Kyoya. He was different than Tamaki was. While Tamaki was more flamboyant and liked to be close to the girls, Kyoya seemed to be more level-headed and kept a good distance. He also didn't fire off compliemnts like Tamaki did, but when he did give a compliment Aki's heart fluttered a little. He slipped compliments in when she wouldn't expect and it and he was pretty damn smooth with them. Every time there was one aimed at her she could feel her face heat up, especially when it took her a moment to figure out that what he said wasn't just part of casual conversation (those times it was more out of embarrassment). And his voice...she just got lost in it.

"Oh my," Kyoya said, checking his watch and pulling Aki out of another one of her mini-trances. "It's already time for the next group."

"Aw," Rei whined. She seemed to have been pulled out of a voice-induced trance, too.

"Thanks for having us," Emiko said as they all got up. The other girls nodded.

"It was a pleasure," Kyoya said with another smile.

"Time for Mori and Honey," Rei said.

Aki looked around the room. All the girls were getting up, too. Some were leaving the room while other girls came to take their places, but a few girls moved from one host to another. Haruhi disappeared into another room and came back with a tray of sweets for the table Rei was pushing her to right now: Mori and Honey's.

Three other girls were already at the table and were cooing over Honey who gave them a sweet smile. Aki wondered why he was in the club and wearing the school's high school uniform. He looked like he ought to be in elementary school.

"Honey-senpai! Mori-senpai!" Rei said in a cheery voice. The two looked over at her and the other two.

"Rei-chan! Emi-chan!" Honey bounded up to the girls with a huge smile on his face and a pink stuffed bunny in his arms. He stopped in front of them and looked up at Aki.

"This is Aki Fukuda," Rei said, nudging Aki. "First-timer...well, second-timer, really, but first-timer to you guys."

"Nice to meet you, Aki-chan!" Honey said, smiling up at her. He was adorable! So much so that she overlooked him calling her by "-chan" already.

"Nice to meet you, too," Aki said, returning the smile.

"C'mon!" Honey grabbed her hand and started pulling her to the table. "Since you're new, you can sit with me and Takashi. And you can hold Usa-chan!" he added, pushing the bunny into her arms.

Honey directed Aki to the seat next to the really tall guy. She sat down and looked up at him. He looked down at her. Boy, was that guy attractive.

There was a sort of unspoken greeting between the two, then they turned away from each other. Aki noticed Rei looking between the two as if she were waiting for something.

"Aki-chan, which one do you want?" Honey asked, grabbing her attention. He had two plates in his hand, one with red velvet cake on it and the other with strawberry. Aki's mouth started to water a bit. She wanted both to be honest, but she didn't want to look like a pig. Plus, she's already cleared Kyoya's table out of most of it's cookies.

"Red velvet, please."

"Okay!" He set the plate in front of her then turned to Emiko, giving her the strawberry cake. "Here, Emi-chan! It's your favorite, right?"

Emiko smiled and nodded. "It is, thank you!"

Honey continued to give the others slices of cake and then took a large slice of strawberry cake for himself.

Aki watched him and Mori in mostly silence. They weren't like Kyoya or Tamaki, she noticed. Honey, for one, had the child-like charm that none of the others did and it really worked. Whenever he complimented her (though that was somewhat rare compared to the other two) she found it incredibly sweet. She almost found herself cooing over him like the other girls were (even Emiko was cooing over him and she was usually pretty quiet!). Mori on the other hand was pretty quiet. The most noise he made was grunts and the occasional, "Yeah." Aki couldn't see how he was the "wild" type, really.

After a while Mori reached around Aki and tapped Honey's shoulder, then pointed to his watch.

"Oh! Time's up already," Honey said. The girls (Aki included) gave "aw"s, but got up anyway.

"Here, Senpai," Aki said, giving Honey back his bunny.

"Thank you, Aki-chan!" he said. Just as she was about to walk away there was a tug on her dress. She looked back at Honey who was holding onto the end. "Aki-chan? You'll come back, right?"

Aki hesitated. Part of her wanted to say no, but the other part wanted to say yes. When she saw Honey's puppy eyes, she sighed and nodded.

"Yay!"

"What?!" Rei crossed her arms and frowned at Aki. "How come you didn't say yes that easily when _I _asked?"

"Erm...I have to go use the bathroom." It was true. The tea she'd drank had been getting to her, but she'd ignored it earlier. Now, however...

"Alright, but don't take forever this time," Rei said.

"I won't, I won't. I'm not even taking my phone with me this time."

Aki handed her bag to Emiko and quickly slipped out of the room and down the hall. She felt like she was going to pee at any moment!

Thankfully she made it in time, though she did end up taking longer than intended. Hopefully the other two wouldn't come looking for her again.

After washing her hands she hurried back to the club room and found the other two siting with Haruhi. She plopped into a seat next to Rei and listened to Haruhi.

Haruhi didn't seem like he really cared around flirting, but not in a bad way. He just talked and talked. There were some things that the other two got flustered at. Aki noticed that Haruhi also didn't seem to know how good he was at flirting. Or, maybe he did, but he sure didn't show it.

Since Aki had spent so much time in the bathroom, she didn't have much time with Haruhi, but that was alright.

"Thanks for spending time with us, Haruhi-kun," Emiko said. Haruhi nodded and smiled at them.

"It was no problem."

"No wonder he's the natural type," Rei said to the other two as they headed to the twins. Then she turned to Aki and her mood changed. "Aki-chan! What took you so long in the bathroom? You said you didn't have your phone with you! And you missed out on Haruhi-kun!"

Aki held her hands up. "I didn't have it with me, honest. I just drank a lot of tea before."

"And ate a lot of cake and cookies," Emiko said with a giggle. "You really like them, huh?" Aki's cheeks turned a bit pink and she didn't respond. Thankfully they'd reached the twins by that time so she didn't have to.

The trio and two other girls sat with the twins. Things started off normally enough, the twins talking to everyone and throwing out casual compliments. Then something happened but she couldn't remember exactly what (Kaoru hurt himself, probably) because at that moment Hikaru started worrying about Kaoru and got close to him, about as close as Tamaki had gotten with the girls the other day. The other girls (aside from Emiko) squealed, but Aki was shocked.

Forbidden love! Incest! She didn't like that a bit. Not that she wasn't all for forbidden love, it was usually fine with her, as well as homosexuals. _However_, she was not a fan of incest and this weirded her out. A lot.

The same sort of routine happened a couple more times and Aki started feeling pretty uncomfortable. She was glad when the time slot was up. She nearly jumped out of her seat and grabbed her bag.

"Hey, Aki-chan." The twins appeared on either side of her. She jumped a bit and backed up.

"'Chan?'" she questioned, narrowing her eyes. They ignored her.

"Rei-chan told us that you were going to chose a favorite after the club," one of them said while they advanced towards her. She backed up.

"So who are you going to choose?" the other asked.

"It'll be us, right?"

"Uh, well..." She didn't expect to be choosing this quickly. And, really, it wasn't them. They seemed to know this.

"Come on, we're a lot more interesting than the others."

"We are twins after all. Who wouldn't like twins?"

"Well..." Not her. Or, she didn't think so, anyway.

"And we have the brotherly love thing going on."

"A bonus."

"Um..." Aki looked around for help, but it seemed that no one was paying attention.

"Well?" the twins asked, getting close to her. She backed up again, but in her haste to get away from them she tripped over her own feet and fell backwards.

Things seemed to go by in a blur. First she was falling. Then there was a crash – no, a crash, a clunk, and then a second crash – and she found herself on the floor which was wet for some reason.

"Aki-chan!" Rei called.

In an instant girls had crowded around her. Rei and Emiko were standing in front of her. Rei was freaking out and Emiko had a scared look on her face.

"Aki-chan! Are you all – ouch." Rei grimaced when she saw Aki's arm. Aki glanced to her left and saw that the arm of her dress was torn and she had shards of something in her was bleeding and the blood was staining her dress and got onto the floor where it ended up mixing with water.

"Excuse us. Excuse us." The hosts appeared behind Rei and Emiko. Tamaki and Honey started to freak out and Haruhi looked pretty concerned. Kyoya looked slightly irritated, though she couldn't be certain because as soon as she had noticed it his expression was blank.

"Are you alright?" Tamaki asked, kneeling next to her.

"Well, my arm's bleeding, but otherwise I'm pretty alright," she said, no trace of sarcasm in her voice. "My shoulder does hurt, though."

Tamaki glared back at the twins and started yelling at them, saying something along the lines of them being devils and how they should know not to hurt a client. Kyoya stepped forward and helped Aki to her feet.

"We didn't do it on purpose, M'lord," one said.

"It was an accident, honest," the other said.

"It's not really our fault, anyway."

"She _did_ trip over her own feet."

"Come with me," Kyoya said to Aki, leading her through the crowd of girls.

"We're right behind you, Aki-chan," Emiko said as she and Rei hurried after them.

"Actually, I can take care of this myself," Kyoya said, stopping and turning to the two. "You two should head home."

"But what about Aki?" Emiko said. "We should –"

At that moment Rei's face seemed to brighten. She grabbed Emiko's hand and started pulling her away.

"We'll just be going then!" she said, waving to them.

"Rei –"

"You take care of Aki-chan, Senpai!" Rei said before she pulled Emiko out of the room.

Kyoya looked back at Haruhi. "Haruhi, please clean up the mess. The rest of you tend to the clients." With that he continued to lead Aki out of the room and to the nurse's office.

"Excuse me, Ms. Sato?" Kyoya said when they had reached the office. Ms. Sato, one of the nurses, looked up from a book she was reading. Her brow furrowed when she noticed Aki.

"What happened?" she asked, getting up from her chair.

"There was an accident at the club," Kyoya said. Ms. Sato directed Aki to one of the bed.

Aki sat down at the edge of the bed. Ms. Sato left for a moment and got some disinfectant, wipes to clean up blood, bandages, and a bag full of extra clothing. Kyoya stood to the side and wrote in his notebook while Ms. Sato got everything and started picking shards out of Aki's arm (and that hurt like hell).

"Mr. Ootori, could you step out for a moment?" she asked. He nodded and left the room. "Now, Miss Fukuda, if you could slip your arm out of the dress."

The corners of Aki's mouth twitched downwards but she agreed. She pulled her arm out of the sleeve and dress, wincing a few times, then held it out for Ms. Sato. The nurse gently took hold of Aki's arm and started to clean off the blood. Aki's arm twitched every time the cloth touched her arm. That wasn't the worst part, though.

Next came the disinfectant. As soon as the cloth covered in it touched her wound, she winced and jerked her arm away.

"Miss Fukuda..." Ms. Sato grabbed her arm again, keeping a tighter grip. Aki tried to pull her arm away the next time the cloth was on her arm, but Ms. Sato had an iron grip and would not let go.

She endured the pain, wincing and saying, "Ow, ow!" She was so happy when that was over.

Next came the bandages. Ms. Sato wrapped them around her arm, starting halfway down her upper arm and ending just above her wrist (though Aki asked that she wrap it around her hand, too, and she did. She thought it made her arm look cooler).

"And you're done. Just change into these and you'll be set," Ms. Sato said, handing her the bag of clothes before closing the curtains around the bed and leaving.

Aki pulled off her blood and dirt stained dress and tights and changed into a white dress shirt and a yellow skirt that ended at her knees. She pulled on the tights that were provided and slipped her Mary Janes back on.

"Are you done?" Ms. Sato asked.

"Uh-huh," Aki said while stuffing the stained dress and tights in the bag. The curtains were pulled back to show Ms. Sato and Kyoya.

"If you could excuse us, Ms. Sato," Kyoya said, turning to the nurse. "I would like to speak with Miss Fukuda privately."

The nurse nodded and stepped out. Kyoya turned to Aki, and that irritated look flashed across his face. She felt like she was in big trouble.

"Do you know what exactly you broke?" he asked her.

"No."

"Well, you broke a very rare porcelain vase for one, and you also broke a large and expensive flower vase." That would explain the water and dirt. "And you have to pay for it all." She flinched at that.

"But, you know, it's not my fault they broke! Not really!" she said, trying to get herself out of the situation. "The twins were pushing me back."

"They're not the ones who knocked everything over."

"Still, I –"

"The price is sixteen million yen."

Her jaw dropped. "Sixteen _million?_ I don't have sixteen million yen! I have, like, eight, but half of that isn't even mine!"

Kyoya only shrugged. "You'll have to work it off, then."

"Work it off how?"

"By working for the club. You'll be the club's waitress and maid, serving drinks and snacks to the hosts and clients, cleaning up after everyone, you know. Or, maybe you don't, seeing as you live with your middle-class aunt. I research our clients, remember?" he said when she opened her mouth. "I know much more than that. I know your real name, I know the situation with your parents, and I know a secret about you that you would never let anyone else know."

Aki gritted her teeth. She did not want to work off this debt. She had better things to do with her time. Maybe she could just –

"Oh, and it's not wise to try and run. My family has its own police force, did you know?" he asked, giving her a cold smile. Damn it. And this guy was her favorite voice.

"I have no choice, then?" she grumbled.

"None at all. We'll see you on Monday." He turned and left.

Aki huffed and left as well, though she was going a lot slower than him.

_How is Auntie going to take this? _she wondered, now started to feel a bit scared. Michiko sure wouldn't like it, but would she be supportive or not? Maybe she'd ground Aki. Or maybe she'd just give her a big lecture and then have Mrs. Nakamura give her another one.

Aki opened the door to the office and stepped outside, but right as she did she bumped into someone. She backed up and saw the twins standing there, one with a bag in his hand.

"You!" she exclaimed.

"Us!" they said.

"You landed me with a debt, you know! Sixteen million yen!"

"Really?" one said. "That's a lot like how it happened with Haruhi."

"Only Haruhi has to pay eight million," the other said.

"And she only broke one vase."

"Does Haruhi have to serve you guys, too?" Aki asked. They nodded.

Her brow furrowed. Who the hell wrote this story? She felt like she was copying off of Haruhi!

"Oh, are those your torn clothes?" one asked as they peered into her bag.

"Yeah."

"Here, we'll trade you!" they said, taking her bag of clothes from her hands and replacing it with the bag they had which turned out to be hers. She must have left it the room.

"Hey, give it back!"

"Don't worry, we'll have it fixed up by tomorrow!" one said.

"No, my aunt –"

"Can she buy the cloth needed to patch up the arm or get blood and dirt stains completely out of the dress?" the other asked.

"She can buy it, I think. And –"

"We thought we'd repay you since it was our fault that you tripped and fell," one said, though he had a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Aki didn't notice it. She was more focused on the fact that they really were doing something nice for her.

"Really? Well, thank y–"

"But in return, you owe us!" the twins said, grinning. Her happy mood immediately went south.

"What? Wait!" she said as they started to run off. "That's not how repaying works! Give me back my dress!"

Too late. They were already gone. She hurried to the window and saw them running up the courtyard and towards a limo.

_How did they get down there so fast? _she wondered.

She huffed and made her way out of the school. She had herself to blame, partly. She _was _the one who knocked over the vases. Although, it was the twins who backed her up, and if she really wanted to go to the root of it all it was Rei's fault for talking her into going the host club and making her choose a host. She could also blame her aunt for switching her to Ouran and Mrs. Nakamura for suggesting this school to Michiko. But, really, she blamed herself and the twins.

**A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter! I'm sorry about using the same "breaks vase, gets debt, works for the club" type of plot, but I didn't have many other ideas. I also hope the emoticons show up alright. Kasumi is the type of girl who would use excessive emoticons given the chance, but I think I might cut them out of any texts from now on because they're a bit of a pain. Also, the first vase was set on a pedestal. Aki's shoulder hit the pedestal, the first vase fell and broke, then the pedestal hit the large flower vase and knocked that over and it broke,****hence the "crash, clunk, crash" and her shoulder hurting.**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, so I was going through the comic and I realized that my time-line is off. Basically this chapter and the previous one was set before the third chapter of the comic, so before Renge shows up, and the month is January instead of May. Also, thank you to everyone who favorited and followed the story!**

Aki walked up to the school's gates, fiddling with the strap of her bag. It was Monday and it would be her first day working to pay off her debt. Michiko had wished her luck before she left.

_She was surprisingly encouraging, _Aki thought.

When she'd gotten back from school on Friday, she had told her aunt about the debt. The first thing she'd said was, "But you're not supposed to be in debt until college!" Then she shook her head and listened to Aki explain the situation. Thankfully, her aunt was calm through the whole thing. She just _had _to tell Mrs. Nakamura, though. Mrs. Nakamura was not so happy. She made up for Michiko's lack of anger. And, of course, just about everyone was freaking out over her arm.

Aki glanced down at the new bandages and sighed a bit. Her friend Nobuo had offered to decorate the bandages to make them look like a super hero's, but she declined. If she were going to school in Tomoko High, she would have jumped on the chance, but she wasn't. She was at Ouran, and she wasn't very keen on showing these people her nerdy side.

Her phone buzzed in her hand as she headed into the courtyard. She checked it and found another two texts from Hikaru and Kaoru. They'd been texting her non-stop since the morning started (how'd they get her number, anyway?).

_See you in class, Puppy, _they had both sent. Aki frowned a bit.

'Puppy.' That seemed to be her new nickname. They kept calling her by it instead of Aki.

Aside from that, she wasn't looking forward to class. Not just because it was school, but she just so happened to sit right in front of one of the twins. Hikaru, if she remembered correctly.

The bell rang and Aki merged with the crowd of students heading to their classes. She followed a couple of her classmates to 1-A and when she got there she was immediately ambushed by the twins.

"Good morning, Puppy," they said, putting their arms around her shoulders.

"Good morning," she muttered. A couple students glanced back at them.

"You didn't answer our texts," the one on her left said as they walked to her desk.

"There were too many," she said.

"You could have at least said hello," the one on her right said.

"I was trying to get ready for school." Aki spotted Emiko and Rei sitting at their desks, watching them. She tried to give them a "Help me" look, but apparently they didn't get it.

"How'd you guys get my number?" she asked, looking up at them.

"Kyoya-senpai gave it to us," they said. Aki frowned.

"Did he give it to everyone in the club?"

"Yep!"

She huffed. What'd he do that for?

The bell rang a moment later. Aki nudged the two in their sides.

"Go to your desks," she said, wriggling away from their arms and sitting down at her desk. The twin that had been on her right went to go sit at his own desk.

"Here," the other one who she assumed was Hikaru said, placing a bag on her desk before sitting at the one behind her. She glanced back and noticed that his parting was on the left.

Aki turned to the bag and saw her once ruined dress. It looked brand new, no stains or tears or anything.

"You still owe us, by the way," Hikaru muttered in her ear, nearly scaring her to death.

"I shouldn't have to owe you anything," she hissed.

"But our mom spent a lot of time on it," he said with a whiny tone.

"I never even asked her to, or you guys to take my dress! And weren't you supposed to be repaying me for landing me with a debt?"

He ignored her comments. She gritted her teeth and shook her head. These two were really going to get on her nerves.

Class wasn't very fun. Hikaru kept messing with Aki and poking her back with the eraser of his pencil, trying to get her to "entertain him." She had to tell him to go bug Haruhi to get him to leave her alone. She felt bad for switching his attention to Haruhi, but she was trying to focus on her work! She also was constantly explaining what had happened to her arm to the other students. She also had girls who were at the club when she cut her arm come up to her and ask her if she was alright.

Lunch wasn't that great, either. While the food was divine, her company was not. The twins had her sit with them since Haruhi wouldn't. Even though Aki said that she had friends to sit with, they still insisted, and Rei even spoke up and said that Aki didn't have to sit with her and Emiko! So much for their help.

She had planned to jump out of her seat and run once the school day was over, but the twins grabbed her before she could even get out of her seat. They pulled her out of her chair and wrapped their arms around her shoulders, then pulled her out of the room.

"Kyoya wanted us to make sure you went to the club and didn't try running off," Hikaru said.

_Damn it, _she thought, reluctantly walking with them to the club room.

Kyoya and Tamaki were already there when they entered. Tamaki was jabbering away to Kyoya while the other just typed away on his laptop and nodded.

Hikaru and Kaoru stopped in front of Kyoya. "Here she is, Kyoya-senpai!" they said, smiling. "The Host Club's new puppy!"

"Aki-chan!" Tamaki appeared in front of Aki and pushed the twins away. "Aki-chan, are you alright? Your arm is okay? How about your shoulder? Is your stomach feeling well? These two didn't do anything to you, did they?" he asked, shooting a glare in the twins' direction.

"No," Aki said. "And my arm and shoulder are fine."

"And your stomach? I have some gingersnaps for you!" he said, holding up a box of the cookies.

"I'm fine, Senpai. Put those away, I'm fine," she said, pushing the box away.

Kyoya pushed Tamaki to the side and held a small piece of paper and a five-thousand yen bill out to Aki. "Here's a list of things we need from the supermarket, and I'm sure this will be more than enough to cover the cost."

She looked down the list. Tea, instant coffee, and cookies and some cakes from a bakery. Simple enough, although she was confused by the instant coffee bit. She thought rich people would like something better than that.

"Hurry now," Kyoya said. "It would be nice if we could have these things before the club opens. Oh, and when you're at the bakery, tell the cashier that everything's for the Host Club. He'll know what to do."

The twins turned Aki around and pushed her out the doors. "Be sure to come back with lots of commoner's coffee!" they said before shutting the doors.

She frowned a bit. _Commoner's coffee? That's what they call it? That's kind of rude._

Aki turned on her heel and headed down the corridor. So far working for these guys didn't seem _too _bad. She was just getting drinks and food for them, and she didn't even have to use her own money! (Not like she couldn't have paid for it. She had more than enough money on her)

"Damn it, damn it," she murmured to herself as she walked down the sidewalk. Her arms were full with bags of instant coffee, tea, and boxes of cookies and cake.

At the super market she'd gotten a basket and grabbed as much instant coffee and fancy-looking (and sounding) tea as she could without going over the budget. She then went to the bakery and told the cashier that she was working for the host club, and he gave her boxes upon boxes of cookies and cakes. At the time the basket wasn't too heavy and she wasn't that far from the exit, so she just stuffed some of the cookie boxes in an extra bag she'd taken just in case, and it was fine for a while. Then as she was walking out of the building the bags started to get heavy and the cakes were weighing down her arms. And what's worse, the cakes were stacked upon each other and she could hardly see over them. She nearly bumped into a few people and was almost run over by a couple kids on their bikes. They'd almost made her drop the cakes!

By the time she got to Ouran she felt like dropping everything and kicking it the rest of the way, but she was pretty sure Kyoya wouldn't be happy with her.

"How about you stop taking a piss and help me?" she said to the fountain as she passed. He just kept peeing.

Aki hesitated when she reached the stairs leading up to the school. She huffed and started climbing up them sideways. She was too afraid of falling backwards and too afraid of dropping the cakes to go up the normal way.

Once she reached the top of the stairs she turned the doorknob on one of the double front doors and pushed it open with her foot. She headed to the club room, having to go up a whole flight of stairs. She was nearly out of breath and her arms were starting to tremble when she finally got to the club room.

She opened the door and stepped inside. She dumped the boxes and bags on Kyoya's table and fell into one of the chairs with a sigh.

"Welcome back," Kyoya said as he typed away on his laptop. "You're just in time."

"You didn't tell me that I would get so many cakes and cookies!" Aki said.

"You shouldn't have gotten so much coffee and tea," he said, peering into the bags. The twins appeared at the table and started pulling out the boxes of instant coffee.

"Wow, Puppy," Hikaru said. "You got a lot."

"This'll last us a while," Kaoru said.

Kyoya stood up and closed his laptop. "Come with me, Aki. And bring the bags and cakes, too."

Aki reluctantly got up and picked up the bags and cakes, then followed Kyoya to a door on the side of the room. He opened it to reveal a large room with a counter and sink on the right side of the room and shelves upon shelves on the left side. The shelves were full of decorative tea sets, dishes, and sweets. There were baskets on a row of shelves with different packs of tea in them. Each basket was labeled with the type of tea it contained. There was one empty basket labeled "Commoner's coffee."

"There is where the cakes go," Kyoya said, gesturing to the shelves where whole cakes were stored. Those had labels, too. "The cookies go next to those, and the tea and instant coffee go in the baskets." He paused and Aki assumed he wanted her to put everything away, so she did.

"Before the club opens you'll make the tea – or coffee, if anyone wants it. You'll set the drinks and snack on the table, then wait to refill empty cups or serve more snacks when the clients or hosts ask for them. You will also clean up after everyone. Oh, and please try not to break anything else while you're doing all of this." Aki stuck her tongue out at him, but then her turned around and her tongue disappeared in a flash. "Understand?"

"Yes," she said with a nod. She finished putting everything away and turned to him. "Anything else, Senpai?"

He nodded and handed her a tray that looked more like a fancy mirror with a tea set on top. "Today's tea is Earl Gray, and I would like chocolate cake at my tables." Then he left.

Aki set the tray down on the counter and waited until she was sure he was gone before stick her tongue out again. She wouldn't break anything else! And it's not like she did it on purpose the first time...

"Puppy!" Her tongue disappeared again when the twins poked their heads into the room.

"What?" she asked.

"We want sugar cookies and red velvet cake at our table. We also want commoner's coffee, not tea," they said, tossing her their two boxes of instant coffee. She fumbled and dropped the first one and the other one hit the floor before she could even reach it and skidded along the floor.

"Boo," the twins called.

"Shut it!" she snapped. They left.

Aki knelt down under one of the shelves and grabbed the coffee. Did they really expect her to catch both of them? One, maybe, but two? And they could have at least warned her first.

"Aki-chan!"

She jumped and hit her head on the shelf. Not to hard, thankfully, but it still hurt.

"Are you alright, Aki-chan?" Honey asked as she sat back and rubbed her head. He was sitting on Mori's shoulders with his bunny in his arms, staring at her with wide eyes.

"I'm fine," she said, getting up. "What are you here for?"

"We wanted to make sure you gave us lots of cake!" Honey said. "And make sure it's strawberry cake with extra strawberries, okay?" Aki nodded. "Thanks, Aki-chan!" They left.

As soon as they were gone Tamaki entered the room. "Aki-chan!" he said in a sing-song sort of way.

"Yes, Senpai?"

"I want cheesecake at my table and commoner's coffee."

"Got it, Senpai." She never knew people other than her aunt drank coffee in the afternoon. What weirdos.

Tamaki left. Aki waited for Haruhi to walk in, but he never showed up. Instead she got Kyoya popping in to tell her that she ought to hurry before the clients walked in.

Aki went straight to making the tea. She got Kyoya's things ready and went out to put them on his table, making sure they looked nice and pretty. Then she did the same with Honey and Mori and the twins. She decided to wing Haruhi's treats and gave him tea and cookies arranged in a spiral like Kyoya's had been the other day. All that was left was Tamaki's things.

Aki finished getting the coffee ready and put it on the mirror tray with the cakes, then headed out to his table. As she was approaching, she overheard Haruhi say something to him.

"Tamaki-senpai, could you please stop comparing me to Oshin?"

Aki nearly slammed the tray down on the table. Haruhi and Tamaki looked at her.

"You watch Oshin?" she asked Tamaki. He blinked.

"_You_ watch Oshin?" he asked. There was a pause, then they grinned at each other.

"No way! I didn't think anyone but my grandparents watched that!" she said.

"I know! What part are you on? I'm nearly done with the whole show."

"Really? I only just got to the part where Oshin saves Kaya from the electricity pole."

"Really?! That's so far back!"

"Well, I only recently started watching it. Oh man, Senpai, did you cry when Shunsaku died?"

"Yes! It was so sad!"

"You cried?" The twins had appeared next to the two sometime during the conversation and were looking between them.

Aki immediately shut her mouth, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Well, only a little," she said. The twins turned on Tamaki, but he ignored them and grabbed Aki's hand.

"We should watch it together sometime! I have the whole show."

"Really?"

"Yeah! It would be great daddy-daughter bonding time!"

"Huh?" That pretty much killed the atmosphere for Aki. What'd he mean by "daddy-daughter bonding time?" Since when was he her "daughter?"

"Ahem," Kyoya said, tapping Tamaki's shoulder. "It's nearly time for the club to open."

"Right! Everyone get in place!"

Immediately the hosts gathered in the middle of the room. The twins pulled a chair over for Tamaki to sit on before they got into their spots. Aki quickly put all of Tamaki's thing on his table and looked around, wondering where she ought to be.

Mori glanced over at her and pointed to the door leading into the snack room. "Stand there," he mouthed. Aki gave him a thumbs up so he knew she understood and took her place in front of the door.

The doors opened and the hosts said, "Welcome."

The girls walked inside, some already giddy. They went with their respective host and the flirting began. Aki watched in silence and messed with the tray in her hands while the hosts entertained their clients. Some of the girls glanced over at her before leaning closer to someone else and muttering something. Aki felt pretty awkward just standing there. She wanted to be moving around if she had to be out there. She was glad when Hikaru and Kaoru called her for whatever reason.

Before she could ask them anything, they grabbed her and then proceeded to show her off to their clients.

"This is our new puppy, Aki Fukuda!" Hikaru said, tousling her hair.

"Isn't she the cutest?" Kaoru asked, pinching her cheek. Aki pushed their hands away and fixed her hair.

"Do you want anything?" she asked. "Or did you call me over just to mess up my hair and pinch my cheeks?"

"Nah, not just that," Hikaru said. "We need more coffee for everyone." He pointed to all the already empty cups.

Aki put the cups onto the tray and went back to make more copy. She came back to the table soon after she had left with fresh coffee.

"It's hot so be careful," she said, putting the cups in front of everyone.

"Thanks!" the girls said. Aki nodded and walked off to go back to her original spot. She had hardly gotten more than a foot away before she heard a hiss come from the table. Glancing back, she saw Hikaru holding Kaoru's chin so Kaoru was looking at him. Hikaru said something about being careful or something along those lines and Kaoru said something else and their clients squealed, but Aki wasn't paying attention. She was hurrying away from them, her cheeks a dark pink.

_I wonder if they ever get uncomfortable with it, _she thought. _How'd they even get the idea in the first place? And how'd they decide that Hikaru would be the seme and Kaoru'd be the uke?_

"Aki-chan!" Tamaki called, waving Aki over to his area. She hurried over, glancing back at Hikaru and Kaoru to see if they were still doing their act. They weren't.

"Need something?" she asked.

"Could you bring us some more coffee and cake?"

"Tamaki, who's this?" one of his clients asked. She must not have been there when the vases broke.

"Ah, allow me to introduce Aki Fukuda," Tamaki said. "She graciously volunteered to help out with the club so Haruhi could focus on his hosting duties."

"Yeah, sure." Aki said.

"Really?" one of the girls said.

"That's so sweet!"

"It's nothing, really. He just looked like he had a lot on his plate." Actually, she didn't notice Haruhi serving the guys very much. She hadn't really paid much attention to him...

"Anyway, I'll be back with your coffee and cake." She went to the snack room and prepared more coffee and grabbed more cheesecake, then put them on Tamaki's table.

The next time she was called to a table it was Honey and Mori's.

"Aki-chan, Aki-chan!" Honey called. He held out a slice of strawberry cake to her. "Here, Aki-chan, have some!"

"Huh? Honey-senpai, I don't think I'm supposed to eat on the job," she said. "Anyway, isn't that the last piece? I'll go get you more."

And she did. She brought out two strawberry cakes and set them on the table. Honey tried getting her to take the cake again but she had to say no. After she walked away her stomach started growling. She hadn't gotten her usual afternoon snack, and her stomach was fine until she said no to cake. It must have been mad at her.

Kyoya called her to his table when the time slots were changing. He told her to get him more tea and cake. She nodded and grabbed the cups and teapot from his table, setting them on the tray. As she was about to walk away, he said, "Don't drop that. If they break, there will be more money added to your debt."

Aki hesitated, then started going back to the snack room, now very aware of how she was holding the tray.

Once she had the cake and tea ready, she went back to Kyoya's table. She almost froze when she noticed who was among his clients.

Rei and Emiko stared at Aki as she approached the table. She quickly (but carefully) set everything down, then turned and walked away.

"Aki-chan?" Emiko said. Aki stopped, then turned around and said, "Later." The girls nodded and turned away from her.

"Aki?" Haruhi said, waving her over.

"More tea?" Aki asked. Haruhi nodded.

"And cookies."

"You got it." Aki left and came back with Haruhi's tea and cookies.

"Thanks," Haruhi said, giving her a smile. She smiled back.

"No problem." _I had to, _she thought.

The rest of the club was pretty much like that. Aki was just hurrying from the snack room to the tables with more drinks and snacks. She was relieved when the second times-lot was over because Rei and Emiko left, so she didn't have to feel their eyes on her anymore.

Sometime later (and hour or so, maybe? She didn't know. She wasn't really paying attention, but it felt pretty long) Tamaki announced that it was closing time. The girls whined, but they eventually got their things and left. Aki sighed and leaned against the wall.

"Done," she muttered, retreating into the snack room. She set the tray on an empty spot on a shelf and grabbed her things. "I'll be going now!" she said as she walked out of the room. "That alright with you, Kyoya-senpai?" He nodded and waved her off.

"We'll walk with you," Hikaru and Kaoru said, appearing at her side.

"We're going home, too," Hikaru said.

"There's no reason to stay today," Kaoru said. Aki wanted to tell them no, but then again it wouldn't be a long walk, and they probably wouldn't annoy her too much, so she just kept her mouth shut.

The three of them walked through the school. Hikaru and Kaoru talked with each other and didn't even say a thing to Aki. Not the she minded, really. It wasn't until they had gotten out to the street that the twins paid attention to her.

"Where are you going?" Hikaru said when Aki had started walking down the sidewalk. She stopped and looked back at them.

"Home," she said like it was obvious.

"Shouldn't you wait for your car?" Kaoru asked. She raised an eyebrow.

"No..."

"Isn't your house far away?" Hikaru asked.

"Yeah. I can get there just fine by train."

The twins gave her a weird look, then shrugged and payed no more attention to her when they heard the horn of a car coming up the street. Aki turned around and walked away.

Her phone started to ring. She pulled it out of her school bag and flipped it open.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, Aki-chan!" Rei said on the other line. She heard someone in the background and then Rei said, "Emi says hi, too."

"Hi, Rei-chan. Tell Emiko I said hi, too."

"Aki says hi," Rei said, her voice a bit faint. The next time she spoke she was back to her normal volume. "So, Aki-chan. How come you were serving tea and sweets to the Host Club? We asked Kyoya but he wouldn't tell us."

"Oh, that? Well, uh..." She was tempted to tell them that she got a debt from breaking the vases, but instead went with what Tamaki had said. The first option was kind of embarrassing. "I'd volunteered to help out since Haruhi looked like he had his hands full with serving the hosts and entertaining his clients."

"Yeah?" Rei's voice got quieter and she repeated what Aki'd said to Emiko. "Yeah, I'll tell her. Emiko said she thought it was because you broke the vases." Aki bit her lip.

"Oh, no, no. I'd volunteered before that."

"Really? Alright. Well, we were just wondering. By the way, that's pretty sweet of you."

"I know. I mean, a lot of girls told me." It was true. Just before the club ended some girls went up to her and told her that she was such a sweetheart for thinking about Haruhi and things like that.

"Yeah, I'd think that they would. Hey Ak– oh, really? Sorry, Aki-chan. Gotta go. See you tomorrow!"

"See ya."

"Welcome home, Tomi-chan!" Michiko said, hugging her niece as soon as she stepped through the door.

"Hi, Auntie," Aki said. "Auntie, I have to close the door." Michiko scooted back, still with her arms around Aki. She nudged the door with her foot and it swung shut.

Michiko let go and stepped back with her hands on her hips. "So how was your first day on the job?" she asked while Aki locked the door.

"I don't think it can be considered a real job," she said. "I'm not getting paid."

"Well, not everyone gets paid for doing their jobs. Anyway, it's a job. How it go?"

"Fine, I guess. All I was doing was buying things for them and serving them."

"Sounds easy enough. How much longer until the debt is worked off?" Aki shrugged.

"I dunno. Probably until I graduate."

"What?!"

"It _is _sixteen million yen, Auntie."

"I know that, but are you planning on working it _all_ off? You'll be able to pay it off when you reach four million."

"No way. That's my money!"

"We'll have four million left over, Tomi. Most likely more."

"I'd like to still have all our money when I graduate."

"Well...why don't you ask Daiki for the money? He's got more than enough to pay for everything right now."

"I don't want Dad to know about this. Or Mom. Or anyone in my family other than you."

"That's stupid, Tomi-chan."

"Thanks for being subtle about it," Aki muttered, shaking her head.

"Don't shake your head. That's what _I'm _supposed to do. Anyway, that's really stupid, Aki. Your dad would definitely give you the money. I mean, he's pretty generous with your 'allowance', though I don't know why he gives you any. It's not like you clean up your room or do any chores at his house."

"I don't know, either."

"Same thing with your mom! She's got tons of money and she's generous with your allowance! Well, was, until I convinced her and Daiki to let up."

"Yeah, I know. One-thousand a week from each of them."

Michiko rolled her eyes. "I never got that much allowance, and I actually did chores at my parent's house. Maybe I should get them to let up a little more. What do you think?"

"Can we get back on the subject of me not wanting to get Mom and Dad into this?"

"Right! It's stupid and you're wasting time."

"Well, that's what I want to do. I don't have anything else to do after school anyway since Kasumi and Nobuo joined clubs. And, don't you think it's a good lesson? Mrs. Nakamura does."

"A lesson for accidentally breaking something? Sounds like unfair punishment."

"It's teach me to be more careful around rich people and their things," Aki said with a shrug. "Auntie, I'm okay with it. Well, I'm not, but this'll probably be good for me. I'll make friends other than Rei and Emiko, and I'll interact with more people. Hey, maybe this'll help me get a boyfriend." Michiko's face lit up a bit at that.

"I guess there's not talking you into getting help, huh?"

"No. And don't go telling Mom or Dad about this behind my back!"

"I won't, I won't," Michiko said, holding up her hands in defense. "Promise."

"Thank you. I'm gonna go get changed."

"Okay, but hurry! I'm making dinner right now."

"Got it."

Aki headed to her room and set her bag down on her bed before pulling a t-shirt and sweat pants out of her closet. She changed into her clothes, then sat on her bed to take her homework and things out so she could work on them after dinner. She reached inside her bag and was surprised when her hand grabbed some sort of box. She didn't remember putting any box away to take with her. Pulling it out, she found that it was a box of ginger snaps.


	5. Chapter 4

For the rest of the week things generally went the same way: Aki would wake up and immediately be barraged by messages by the twins, then she'd go to school and be pestered by them during the school day (more by Hikaru than Kaoru), she'd eat with Rei and Emiko at lunch (she pretty much forced them to take her back instead of leaving her with the twins), get pestered a little more, go work at the host club, and go home.

Working at the club wasn't as bad as she thought. Sure, it wasn't her favorite job and it wouldn't be first on her list of jobs, but it wasn't too hard. Pretty straightforward, actually. She just served the hosts and clients, dealt with the twins playing around with her, Tamaki being a bit overly dramatic, and Kyoya taunting her, and cleaned up when everyone left. It was just tiring when multiple hosts wanted something at the same time.

Friday finally rolled around after a long week. Aki woke up to the usual texts from the twins (thank goodness she'd gotten free unlimited texting or her bill would probably be sky high!) and one from Kasumi saying, "Good luck!" Aki smiled and replied with, "Good luck to you, too!" It was a usual thing to do between them. Every school day morning since their first year of middle school they'd send each other a "good luck" message.

Aki got herself ready for the day. After she'd finished pulling on her uniform and pulled her gray beanie, she went down to make breakfast. On the table she found an already prepared breakfast: An omelet, a bowl of rice, and a slice of jellied toast. Next to the food was a note from her aunt:

_Tomi-chan,_

_Had to go into work early. Something about a crazy amount of cars already coming in? Anyway, here's breakfast! You'd better eat it all, too, because I worked hard on that omelet!_

_Have a good day at school._

_Love,_

_Auntie._

Aki poked the omelet. Still warm.

"Thanks, Auntie," she murmured before sitting down and picking up her chopsticks.

While she ate, she wondered what today would be like. Like the rest of the days? She sort of hoped not. She wanted _something _interesting or at least a little different to happen. Then again, the rest of the days weren't too bad, they just got uninteresting pretty quickly.

She was soon finished with her breakfast and set her dishes in the sink, then grabbed her bag and coat and headed out the door.

Aki walked to the train station, keeping her pace fast as it always was. She wasn't trying to get out of the neighborhood before any of her friends saw her, no. She was trying to get away before Mrs. Nakamura saw her. She'd gotten caught by that woman more than once and had nearly been late to class more than once.

Thankfully there was no sign of Mrs. Nakamura. There was also no sign of anyone who'd try and talk to her anywhere else. The train ride was nice and quiet for her, and the walk from the station to Ouran was nice. She was playing around with the steam that came out of her mouth and nose in the cold air on the way there, and she'd pretended to be a dragon more than once. She only stopped when she noticed some ladies walking by give her a weird look. After that she was too embarrassed to pretend to be a dragon again, but she still exhaled heavily every now and then to see the steam.

Eventually she'd made it the the school. She shrugged off her coat after stepping inside the warm building. The school was heated in the winter and air conditioned towards summer, which was one thing she liked better about it than Tomoko. Sure, they'd turn on the heat or the air, but only sometimes, and even then it wasn't as good as Ouran.

She stepped into class a couple minutes before the bell rang. The twins didn't immediately pounce on her today, which she was thankful for. Instead, they were talking to Haruhi and only gave Aki a small wave. She waved back at them and sat down.

The school day went better than expected. Hikaru and Kaoru didn't bother her that much and kept most of their attention on Haruhi. They didn't even ask her to sit with them for lunch (although they said they had to go meet with Kyoya, so that was probably why). Rei and Emiko were done asking her about what the hosts did after the club was over. Mostly out of disappointment, Aki figured, since she always left right when the club ended and didn't have anything to tell them about the hosts. She didn't have anyone coming up to her anymore and saying that she was a real sweetheart for helping out or asking her what it was like. Before she knew it, the school day was over and it was time to go to the host club.

Aki got up after packing all of her things into her bag. Hikaru and Kaoru appeared, slinging their arms through hers.

"Don't be late, Haruhi," the twins called back to the boy while walking out with Aki.

"See you later, Aki-chan!" Rei said, waving off Aki along with Emiko.

The twins seemed to be in a hurry to get to the club today. They were speed walking rather than going at their usual leisurely pace. "Something important going on today?" Aki asked.

Hikaru nodded. "Yeah, and the sooner we get to the club room the sooner we can get it over with."

"By the way, don't leave after the club's done," Kaoru said. "There's a meeting."

"A meeting? Shouldn't that be for club members only? Like, actual hosts?" Aki asked. After all, she was just the maid.

"That's what we said," the two said.

"But Tamaki said you're included in the club, even if you are just the maid," Kaoru said. "And Kyoya agreed. So you have to come."

"Okay, then." What kind of meetings did host clubs have, anyway? Were they to come up with new ways to flirt with clients?

As always, when the three of them had gotten there, the two second-years were already there. Aki separated from the twins and waited for everyone to tell her what they wanted at their area before going into the snack room. She dropped her bag off by the door and grabbed a tea pot to start making white tea, being extra careful while preparing it. Apparently this stuff was rare and expensive, and Kyoya'd warned her to not mess up.

Once that was done, she poured a few cups of tea and set everything on a platter. She also grabbed a few red velvet cakes and set them on the platter as well, then took everything out and put them on Kyoya's table.

She went back to the room and made coffee and grabbed vanilla cake for the twins and Tamaki. As soon as she'd finished setting their things down, Honey and Mori walked in. Honey asked for red velvet cake and coffee, so that's what she got him. For Haruhi she got black tea and two platters full of cookies. Not that Haruhi had asked for it. He wasn't even there yet. Aki just gave him whatever, really, and he didn't seem to complain.

Haruhi finally got to the room and a while after that the club started. Aki waited around for the hosts to ask her to get them something to drink or eat. Rei and Emiko visited, now with Tamaki's group, and always smiled when she passed and sometimes gave her a thumbs-up. She smiled back at them. They were supposed to be like her support group, or so Emiko had said. Personally, she didn't think she needed one, but she did like the kind gesture.

The time seemed to fly by during the club. It was like she'd made an abrupt time-skip from the beginning to the end of club hours. Soon the clients were grabbing their things and exchanging goodbyes with the host of their choice, then leaving. Aki waved at them for a quick second before going to put her platter away and picking up her bag. By this time she had forgotten about the meeting and was heading out the door when Kaoru grabbed her.

"What are you doing?" she asked, frowning at him.

"Don't you remember what I said before?" he said. "We've got a meeting."

"Oh." Her face fell a bit. She would have been a little more interested, but for the past half-hour she'd been thinking about dinner. Her aunt said that they'd go to a Chinese restaurant that evening with the Nakamuras and her friend Nobuo and his family. She really hoped this meeting wouldn't take too long and she didn't miss it (not like Michiko wouldn't wait for her, but if she took too long she'd probably just get take-out and that wasn't as fun as eating in the actual restaurant). She also hoped she'd be able to catch a train once it was over since she was missing her usual one.

_I'll have to walk home if I can't catch another train soon, _she thought. _I've never walked home from here, though...But, I'm sure I'll be fine._

Kaoru brought Aki over to the front of the room where sofas had been moved so they made a sort of semi-circle. She sat next to Hikaru on the left-most couch while Kaoru sat on his other side. Kyoya and Haruhi were on the middle couch, and Mori and Honey were on the right-most couch. Tamaki stood in front of them all, a big smile on his face.

"So, what's this all about?" Aki asked.

"Theme Day!" Honey replied.

"'Theme Day?'"

"Yes, Theme Day," Tamaki said, already starting off with an overly dramatic tone. "The day when we don beautiful garments for the pleasure of out dear clients." Aki looked over at the others for a translation. Sure, she had a pretty good idea of what he meant, but she wanted to be certain that what she was thinking was right.

"We dress up," Kyoya said. Everyone else nodded. "The theme of the costumes are different each time."

_So like cosplay? _Aki wondered.

"What's the theme this time, then?" she asked.

"That's what we're here to decide," Tamaki answered. "So, any suggestions? I personally think we should do a royalty theme."

"No way," Hikaru said.

"We already did that once this year," Kaoru said.

"But we didn't have Aki!" Tamaki said.

"I don't think that makes a difference."

"We can do it next school year, Senpai," Haruhi said.

"But –"

"No royalty theme, then," Kyoya said, crossing something out in his notebook. Tamaki pouted. Aki wouldn't admit it, but she kinda wanted to do that royalty theme. It sounded like fun, sort of.

"Maybe we could dress up like bunnies!" Honey said. Playboy bunnies flashed through Aki's mind. She wouldn't be dressing like that. She also wouldn't be dressing up in a hot, full-body bunny costume and have a huge bunny head over her own.

"I don't think so," Kyoya said, scratching something else out. "Any other ideas?"

Everyone looked at Haruhi. He shrugged, although he wasn't paying much attention and was more focused on his homework. They then looked at Aki. She shrugged, too.

"Well, we have an idea," Hikaru and Kaoru said. "Our mom's been wanting to make some new kimonos for us for a while now, so why not wear kimonos for theme day?"

There was a brief silence among the group. Aki was the first to speak up.

"I wouldn't mind that." Maybe she'd get to keep the kimono?

"I like it, too," Haruhi said. Kyoya nodded.

"Me too!" Honey said. "How about you, Takashi?" Mori gave a small nod. "Tama-chan?"

Tamaki opened his mouth, but the twins cut across him. "Seven out of eight already approve of it, so it doesn't matter what he says." Tamaki gave them an irritated look.

"I was going to say yes, anyway," he said.

"Then it's decided. We'll wear traditional kimonos," Kyoya said, writing something down.

"So that's it, right?" Aki asked, starting to get up. She glanced at her watch. If she left now, she'd probably have enough time to catch her usual train.

"Ah, ah, ah." Hikaru grabbed her arm. "Kaoru and I need to take your measurements."

"She's probably a lot like Haruhi's, though," Kaoru said while he and Hikaru got up and moved Aki to the side. "Just with a bigger bust."

The two of them pulled tape measures out of their pockets and started measuring her waist, hips, bust size, arm length, and height, calling measurements out to Kyoya who seemed to write them all down. Aki was about to leave when they put the tape measures away, but they stopped her again and were handed cameras by Honey and Mori. They pulled off her beanie and smoothed out her hair, then started clicking away with the cameras, taking multiple pictures of Aki.

"What's this all for?" she asked while Hikaru took a close-up picture of her face and Kaoru took a few of her hair. "I mean, my face and hair shouldn't matter, right?"

"They'll matter," Hikaru said, backing up to take another full-body picture. "Maybe not for this theme day, but for future ones we're going to need a reference so we know what to do with your hair and make-up."

After a few more pictures they put the cameras away. Aki grabbed her bag and took a step towards the door, keeping her eyes on the twins to see if there was anything else they had to do. They just waved her off.

"See you guys on Monday!" she said, hurrying off. If she ran she might be able to catch the train.

"I'm home!" Aki called, stepping into her house. "Auntie?"

"In the living room," Michiko called. Aki dropped her bag and headed to the living room. Her aunt smiled up at her. She was already dressed in a nice red shirt, skinny jeans, and suede boots. She smelled like jasmine and lavender instead of oil and gas, so she must have taken a bath already.

"How was your day today?" Michiko asked.

"Fine. I apparently have to do this theme day thing at the club next week."

"What's that?"

"Cosplay."

"Oh! So what are you all wearing?"

"Traditional kimonos."

"Really? That sounds interesting."

"And they're being made by Mrs. Hitachiin."

"Really?!" Aki nodded. "Whoa, Tomi-chan! Those will be the best kimonos ever! You've gotta take pictures for me!"

"I will, I will."

"Wow. My little niece wearing a kimono made by Yuzuha Hitachiin...Do you have to go to their house for fitting or anything?"

Aki shrugged. "I didn't ask."

"What? You should have! We could have gotten to meet Yuzuha!"

"Maybe next time I will."

"Oh, your family is going to flip when they find out – In the good way, of course. Manami is going to be so jealous...And Kasumi, too!"

Aki frowned and nodded. "Yeah, Kasumi's gonna be jealous. Maybe I'll get to take it home and she can try it on."

"Yeah, hopefully. Oh, hey, go and get dressed unless you want to eat wearing your uniform. And be quick!"

"You got it, Auntie," she said before heading to her room to change.


	6. Chapter 5

Theme day felt like a nightmare.

Not during the actual club, though. It was the whole time _before _the club started that felt like a bit of a nightmare.

In the morning she found a lot less texts than usual from the twins, but a lot more from Kasumi.

_Good morning!__（＾∇＾）_

_Today's that 'theme day' thing, huh?_

_Send me pictures!_

_Hey._

_Answer me._

_I know you're there, Aki-chan! __(−_−__＃__)_

_Why won't you reply?_

_Mama wants pictures, too._

_So does Tetsuo._

_So send pictures._

_Aki?_

_(^_^*)_

_Have to go. See you later._

_Remember, send me pictures!_

_Bye! __( ´ ▽ ` )__ﾉ_

_Good luck! __o(≧▽≦)o_

Aki only replied ten minutes after she'd sent the last one, sending Kasumi a good luck.

_I knew you were there! _Kasumi sent almost as soon as Aki'd pressed the send button. She rolled her eyes and stuffed her phone into her bag.

She left her house soon after that and as soon as her door was locked she turned around and was suddenly being hugged by a mass of black cloth and buttons.

"Good morning, Suzu-chan!" a boy said, snuggling Aki.

"Get off of me," she muttered, trying to push him away. He chuckled and stepped back.

The boy was pretty tall, standing at about six feet, probably a few more inches if his hair was counted. His hair was styled in a faux hawk and the hair on the sides of his head was cut pretty short aside from two long strands that hung in front of his ears. His hair was jet black except at the top where the tips faded into red. His eyes were light gray but were believed to get darker when he got upset. His skin was a light peach color, free of any blemishes as far as anyone could see. He was wearing a black blazer that was currently unbuttoned, a white dress shirt, a blue tie, black pants, and black dress shoes. An earring hung from his right ear. It was a small white skull with three small bones leading from the skull to his ear.

This boy was Nobuo Kawaguchi, one of Aki's best friends and her ex-boyfriend.

"Good morning, Suzu-chan," Nobuo said again. He adjusted Aki's hat which had become lopsided when he'd hugged her.

"Good morning, Nobuo-kun," Aki said. "What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you already be heading to school?"

"Yep, but I wanted to see one of my most favorite gals before I headed off," he said, grinning at her.

"Sure you did."

"That and I had to collect the 'stuff'. Almost forgot it." He motioned to the duffel bag hanging off of his shoulder. "By the way, you want something? I could get it for you after school."

"No, I don't want anything. I'm not even carrying enough money for anything besides the train fee and my lunch, so I can't pay you."

"What? Really? Suzu, you gotta carry your money with you! What if some one breaks into your house and steals your money?"

"What if someone attacks me and steals my money? Anyway, I'm just going to school. It's not like I need all my money."

"True, but you should still have some on you."

Aki checked her watch. "I've gotta get to the train station."

"Right, right, you're not fortunate enough to walk to school anymore. Poor girl. Well, bye, Suzu-chan," he said, hugging her again before walking off. This time she hugged him back. "And take lots of pictures for me, alright?"

"You got it." She continued to the train station then.

After getting off at the station, she was met by Jin and two of his and Michiko's coworkers who pestered her about taking pictures (apparently Michiko had told everyone at her job). She had to pinky-promise them she would for them to let her go to school.

At school all the girls were excited for the club to start. Aki walked into class to find almost all the girls in class surrounding Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi's desks (and because there were girls at Hikaru's desk it was hard for Aki to get to her own desk). When Aki finally sat down Rei and Emiko appeared in front of her desk, also excited about the club.

"What's the theme going to be?" Emiko asked. Aki opened her mouth to answer but a hand covered it.

"She's not allowed to say," Hikaru said, his head right next to her own. She pulled his hand away.

"Why can't I tell them?" she asked, turning to him.

"Yeah, why can't she? What's the harm in telling us?" Rei asked. The other girls apparently had focused on the conversation and started muttering among each other in agreement.

"They never tell us," Emiko muttered.

"There's no surprise if we tell you," Kaoru said. "And it's not fun."

"Plus Tamaki told us not to tell," Hikaru said.

Just then the bell rang. The girls went back to their seats and Hikaru leaned back into his seat.

Girls weren't just pestering them during class, though. During lunch (in which she had to sit with Hikaru and Kaoru) they were surrounded by girls from the other first-year classes, too (though they only cared about talking to the twins. Aki was just...there). While she was eating she was listening to girls pester the twins about what the theme was and guess. The two would shake their heads at every answer, even when some girls said the right answer.

"Why won't you guys tell them?" Aki asked when the bell for the end of lunch ran and the girls had left.

"We already said why," Hikaru said.

"I know, but still."

"Tamaki's the one who said we weren't allowed to. He likes it to be a surprise and says he loves to see the expressions on the girls' faces when they walk in," Kaoru said.

"It's annoying, though."

"What do you care?" Hikaru asked. "You already know what it is."

"Yeah, but if I didn't I'd be pretty irritated."

"Don't worry about it, Puppy," Hikaru said, rubbing her head and messing up her hat and hair.

"Yeah, it's only a little while longer 'til the club starts," Kaoru said while Aki fixed her hair.

"Hey, also, what do the ki–"

"Shh, don't let them hear you," Hikaru said, covering her mouth. "We won't tell you what it looks like, either."

"Can't wait to see the look on _your _face!" Kaoru said, grinning.

Aki walking into the club room with Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi. The others were there already and seemed to be waiting for them.

Aki gaped at the room. She was certain only yesterday it had been the normal club room. Now, however, it was styled like a traditional Japanese room. When stepping inside there was a small wooden fence to lead them into the room and a square sign that said "Host Club." Inside the room was a platform raised a bit off the ground and was covered in tatami mats, a pink paper wall that separated it from other sections of the room, a smaller, yellow wall with a painting of flowers on it, and shelves with vases and decorative plates on display. Other sections were similar, though most had solid red floors instead of tatami mats and they had couches and seats whereas the other one just had two mats to sit on. Various plants were placed next to couches and tables (which she noticed already had drinks and snacks on them).

The hosts were already in their kimonos which looked magnificent. Tamaki's was a light brown with an even lighter brown lines that traced out flower patterns on the kimono and a few yellow flowers on his shoulders, waist, and legs, he had a white nagajuban, and he had on a dark purple obi. He wore a long haori that was colored yellow to orange with more flowers on it. The neckline of his kimono was rather low and showed his chest.

Kyoya's was simpler. It was colored brown with some small, lighter brown flowers dotting the kimono and three larger flowers on his shoulder. He had a brownish-orange nagajuban under the kimono and his obi was light green. His neckline wasn't as low at Tamaki's but still showed some of his chest.

Honey's was more decorative than Kyoya's. His kimono was green and had light green flowers all over the place, and he had on a white nagajuban and a dark blue obi. He had a pink haori that was a bit dark and made the cherry blossom pattern stand out. His neckline was higher than Tamaki's and Kyoya's, though it still showed a bit of his chest.

Mori's kimono was rather plain. It was only dark blue with a dull red obi and a yellow-green nagajuban, the neckline was a little higher than Tamaki's (but not by much), and there was no haori or anything. It still looked magnificent on him, though.

_This is theme day, huh? _Aki thought. So far, she liked it.

"Hurry and get dressed!" Tamaki said, grabbing Aki and Haruhi. "I want to see how the kimonos look on my cute daughters!"

_Daughters? _Aki wondered.

Tamaki opened up a room (it looked like a dressing room) and pushed them in.

"The one on the left is Haruhi's and the one on the right it Aki's," he said before closing the door. Aki's eyes immediately zeroed in on the mannequins in the middle of the room, both wearing kimonos.

One kimono was pale green with even paler green flowers and leaves on in and it had an extremely light and pale blue haori with light pink flowers in clusters on it, and the neckline was pretty high, showing nothing of the mannequin's chest. A dark blue nagajuban was under that and under the nagajuban was the white juban. A dark blue obi hung around the neck. The other kimono was dark blue with lighter blue flowers appearing from top to bottom where they ended up looking like a sea of flowers and the color faded into white (same thing with the crazy long sleeves). The nagajuban was green and it had a juban under it, and the neckline of this kimono was as high as the other one.A green obi was around the mannequin's neck. There was no haori with this one.

Aki put her bag down walked up to the mannequins. The blue one was on the right, so that was hers. She pulled it off of the mannequin and inspected it. She would have gotten changed then, but Haruhi was there. _Why _exactly was he there?

"Hey, Haruhi –" She glanced over and stopped talking when she noticed that Haruhi had taken off his blazer and shirt. Underneath was a tank top and Aki noticed another strap under the tank top's strap. A bra strap. Glancing at Haruhi's chest, she also saw that Haruhi had breasts.

"You're a girl?!" she exclaimed. Haruhi looked over at her and nodded.

"No one told you?" he – no, _she_,_–_ asked.

"No!"

Dark red blush flared up on Aki's cheeks. For a moment she found it hard to believe, but as she thought about it she could see Haruhi being a girl. She was very pretty, for one, her eyes had a feminine look to them, and her voice, though deeper other girls, was higher than most boys and a lot more girlish. She felt stupid for not realizing that Haruhi was a girl sooner. Even her name sounded like a girl's name. She never heard of a boy named Haruhi before. Haru, yeah, but not Haruhi.

"Why are you wearing the boy's uniform, then?" Aki asked. "And you use 'ore' and 'boku'and all...What's that about?"

"It's sort of a long story," Haruhi said.

"Then give me the short version."

Haruhi paused for a moment. "I broke a vase, they gave me a male uniform, and I have to work as a host."

Aki frowned. "Give me the long version."

"We have to get dressed," Haruhi said with a small sigh.

"Oh, yeah." Aki frowned again and set her kimono back on the mannequin. "You get dressed first, and I'll wait outside."

"Okay...?"

She left the room. When she stepped outside she found Tamaki waiting in font of the door. He looked disappointed to see her.

"Aki-chan? Why aren't you wearing your kimono?" he asked. "Don't you like it?"

"I do, I do, but I don't like changing with other people." That was mostly true. The only exceptions were her family and Kasumi. Other than them she refused to change with anyone else.

Kyoya walked up to her and inspected her face. "Judging by your blush I'm guessing you found out that Haruhi's a girl?" That made her blush even more.

"Yeah. How come you guys didn't tell me?"

"We wanted to see how long it would take you to find out."

"You could have done me a favor and saved me the embarrassment," she mumbled.

"If it makes you feel any better, all the other girls in school believe that Haruhi's a boy."

Aki was quiet. Honestly, it did make her feel better.

The twins came out of the dressing room (boy's dressing room, she guessed) then and Tamaki went over to them, inspecting their kimonos.

"Aki, you do know that you aren't allowed to tell anyone about Haruhi's gender, right?" Kyoya said.

"No, I didn't, but now I do. But, can I tell my aunt?" Michiko wouldn't tell any of the students. She didn't even know any of Ouran's students.

Kyoya nodded. "I don't see any harm in it," he said.

"Good."

"Puppy?" Hikaru and Kaoru appeared in front of Aki.

Their kimonos were matching. They were blue with thin darker blue vertical stripes on them and large green, orange, and red flowers on their shoulders, arms, waists, and below their waists. The obis were dark green, and their nagajubans were dark purple. She noticed that they also had pale green hair clips on.

"Why aren't you wearing your kimono?" Hikaru asked as the two of them gave her an irritated look.

"Our mother worked hard on it," Kaoru said, crossing his arms.

"Haruhi's in there," Aki said, nodding towards the dressing room.

"So? You're both girls," Hikaru said. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that I don't like changing around people, even other girls."

The door to the girls' changing room opened and bumped Aki in the back.

"Oops," Haruhi muttered. "Sorry, Aki."

"Haruhi!" Suddenly Tamaki was hugging Haruhi and twirling her around, gushing about how cute she was. The twins left to go calm down Tamaki and compliment Haruhi. Aki slipped into the dressing room to change.

It took a while to get dressed in the kimono. All the layers were fine, yeah, it was just the sashes she had trouble with. First there was the karihimo, then there was the datejime, and finally the obi. Sounded simple. However, she didn't want to wear the karihimo. That was just to keep everything up while she was getting dressed. She forgot that she didn't want to wear it, though, and when she'd realized that it was still on she'd already tied the obi. The obi was a pain, too. She'd never really perfected the art of tying one (she never had to know how, so she never learned), and she wasn't about to ask anyone for help. One reason was because she'd be embarrassed. They'd all tied their own obis (or it seemed like they had. And, anyway, the male obi looked pretty simple) and she'd be embarrassed to be the only one who didn't know how. The other reason was because she was stubborn. She didn't need anyone's help with this. She'd figure it out sooner or later.

She thought it was easy at first. All she had to do was tie it in the front and turn it to the back when she was done. However, she'd tied it too tightly. Then she tried again, but it was too loose. She tried tying it in the back, but it was loose and messy. She also found that the way she was tying it definitely looked wrong.

"Aki!" The door slammed open and Aki jumped. The obi (which had just been untied once again) slipped from her hands and onto the floor.

"Are you alright, Aki-chan?" Honey asked. He and Mori stood in the doorway.

"I'm fine," she said, picking up the obi. "I'll be out soon."

They walked over to her and Honey grabbed the obi. "Are you having trouble with this?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine."

"What's going on in there?" The twins poked their heads into the room.

"Aki-chan's just having trouble with her obi," Honey said.

"I said I'm alright," Aki said.

"Well hurry up, Aki," Hikaru said. "We need to do your hair."

"Takashi can help you!" Honey said to Aki. She shook her head and started trying to tie the obi again, but Mori took it out of her hands and started tying it in the back. Aki felt pretty embarrassed. She couldn't do something as simple as that...

"Finished," Mori said. She tried to look behind her for whatever reason, but that wasn't happening. All she could see was part of a large bow.

"Finally." Hikaru and Kaoru walked in and pulled Aki to the side. Hikaru started brushing her hair back and put it into a bun. Kaoru stuck a blue clip in her hair so it would stay in place (the clip had different shades of blue on it and seemed to sparkle when she moved. It also had three beads hanging from the end). He smoothed out her kimono before they pulled a full-length mirror in front of her.

She was more in awe at the kimono than she was at herself. It had looked beautiful on the mannequin but even more so when it was actually on a person. She turned from side to side to try and see as much as she could. Mori had tied a large bow in the back and it sure looked better than anything she could have done. And, her hair was pulled back into a neat bun (save for part of it which Hikaru left in front of her face) with the pretty clip in it, but she didn't care so much about her hair.

"Your mom did a really good job!" Aki said.

"We know," they said.

"You look cute, Aki-chan!" Honey said. "Don't you think so, Takashi?" Mori nodded.

_I think you mean the kimono looks cute, _Aki thought. She wouldn't say it out loud, though. She didn't want to seem like she was putting herself down or trying to be called cute a couple more times. Once was quite enough. Plus, the only thing that changed about herself was her hair. If she looked cute then it was because of the kimono.

"Hey, can you guys take a couple pictures for me?" she asked the twins. "My friends and family have been asking for some."

"Sure, why not?"

"Great, thanks." She pulled her phone out of her bag and handed it to Kaoru. He opened it and got to the camera app and took a few pictures, but then stopped.

"Well?" he said.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to pose or anything?"

"No."

Kaoru rolled his eyes and looked at Hikaru. Hikaru nodded and walked over to Aki and proceeded to move her into a pose.

"I said I didn't want to pose," she said.

"What good is a picture if you're just standing there?" he said, keeping her still.

"It's a picture on my phone."

"Doesn't mean it can't be good. Just stay like that."

He stepped back and Kaoru took a picture. Then Hikaru stepped forward and started to pose with Aki. She wasn't very into it at first, but then they got Honey and Mori (who were just leaving) to join in and she started to get a little more into it, enough for her to have a couple more solo pictures. The last picture taken before they let her go was of her and Kaoru, both with big smiles on their faces and holding up peace signs with their fingers.

"Thanks, you guys," she said, taking her phone back.

"No problem," they said.

She stuffed her phone back into her bag, then followed the twins out of the room. As soon as she stepped outside she was being hugged by Tamaki.

"My daughter looks so cute!" he squealed, spinning her around a few times. She wasn't going to lie, it was actually kind of fun.

"Thanks, Tamaki-senpai," she said once he'd finally let go. "You look pretty good." She glanced at his shoulder and noticed a ponytail resting there. Where'd that come from? She was pretty sure Tamaki didn't have any long piece of hair. Maybe it was an accessory of sorts. But how do you attach a ponytail to hair?

"Really? You think so?" She nodded and his smile grew a little wider, if possible.

"Excuse me," Kyoya said, pulling Aki to the side. "I need to give you today's snacks." He gestured to the table behind him. A three tier plate stand sat on the table. The largest plate had manjyu on it. The second had different types of yokan, each color arranged in rings. The third was wagashi shaped like camellias and narcissus flowers. Around the end of every plate were branches with flowers on the ends. The branches were set in a circle with the petals of one flower nearly touching the petals of another and the ends of the branches touching.

"Whoa," Aki muttered as she stared at everything. Her mouth was starting to water and her stomach rumbled, albeit very quietly. "What are the drinks, then?"

"Green tea," Kyoya said as if it were obvious. She looked at him and he motioned to the platter beside the stand which was full of cups of green tea.

"Oh."

"You don't have to prepare anything this time," he said. "We've had every platter and every stand prepared. All the replacement sweets and drinks are in the other room. All you have to do is replace snacks and drinks when they run out. Oh, and try to refrain from dropping or spilling anything on the kimono. It is only a rental, after all, and we wouldn't want to return it to Mrs. Hitachiin with a stain, would we?" He had a warning tone, and she was pretty sure if she messed up the kimono she'd end up paying dearly.

"I'll be careful," Aki said. "Promise." Too bad it was a rental only. But, she shouldn't have expected anything else. The kimonos were just one time things. Why should everyone keep them? They wouldn't need to wear them again unless there was another traditional kimono theme, but then they probably wouldn't wear the same things twice.

_Maybe I can get Mrs. Hitachiin to make me a kimono when I'm twenty, _she thought. That way she'd be able to keep it.

"It's almost time!" Honey said.

"Everyone get ready!" Tamaki said.

"Aki, get a chair for Tamaki," Kyoya said before moving to get into his spot in front of the door.

Aki glanced around and saw an armchair with red cushions and a dark wooden frame. She grabbed it and hurried over to where the others were gathered. She set the chair behind Tamaki and he immediately sat down. Kyoya waved her off and she went to her usual spot.

The doors opened and the host club gave their usual greeting. A couple girls squealed as soon as they saw the hosts.

"They're wearing kimonos!" Aki heard one girl say.

"The kimonos are so beautiful!"

"They're magnificent!"

"Look at Honey-senpai!"

"Look at Haruhi!"

"The twins are wearing matching kimonos!"

Aki watched the girls flood in. A some girls noticed her and walked over to tell her about how cute she looked. She'd gotten quite a few comments on how she looked like a doll.

"Aki-chan!" Rei and Emiko appeared in front of her. She grinned at the two of them.

"You look so cute!" Rei said.

"Thanks."

"Wow..." Emiko stared at the kimono. "That looks really good. Where'd you get it?"

"Hikaru and Kaoru's mom made it," Aki said, nodding towards the twins.

"Of course she did," Rei said.

"Mrs. Hitachiin's work always looks amazing," Emiko said. "And it looks magnificent on you, Aki!"

"Thanks, Emiko. Who are you guys here for this time?"

"Honey and Mori."

"Honey-senpai looks adorable!" Rei said, turning her attention on Honey. "Don't you guys think so?" Emiko and Aki nodded.

"Hard to believe he's a third year," Aki said.

"And the oldest of the hosts," Emiko added.

"What? No way!"

"Yeah. You really didn't know that, Aki?"

"No!" It was already hard to imagine Honey being older than her, but being older that _everyone_? That was even harder. She was pretty sure it was Mori who was the oldest.

"We have to go," Rei said. "We'll see you later, Aki-chan!"

"Bye, Aki," Emiko said while Rei pulled her away.

"Bye," Aki said.

The hosts went to their different sections. Aki stood by and watched everyone. Tamaki, of course, went right to flirting. She didn't know how he could still do it. He'd been flirting since the beginning of the school year! She would be sick and tired of it by now if she were in his shoes. Maybe they had these theme days so they could use the costumes to their advantage and come up with new things to say.

She glanced away for a moment to see what Honey and Mori were doing (Honey was just posing for the clients and Mori was standing by) and when she looked back she noticed that Tamaki was crying. Immediately she felt alarmed.

What happened? When did it happen? She'd only look away for a couple seconds! The girls didn't say anything, did they? They couldn't have, because he was smiling (and they pretty much loved him, so why would they?). He didn't look like he was hurt, either. So what happened?

She wanted to see if anything was wrong out of pure curiosity, but decided against it. He was probably alright Maybe it was a flirting technique? She'd never heard of that kind of technique before, but it was possible. What a weird way to do it, though.

Aki rocked on her feet. No one needed anything yet, so she didn't have anywhere to go or anything to do. She didn't like just standing around like this. It felt awkward.

There were loud squeals off to the side. She looked towards where they had come from, but looked away almost instantly. It was just the twins doing their thing again and Kaoru was crying.

"First time I've seen him cry over anything," she mumbled. Usually when he and Hikaru did their routine he blushed a lot instead of tearing up. Okay, maybe he'd teared up once or twice, but it wasn't as much as it was now.

There was a bit more standing around for Aki to do. She looked at the snacks and drinks and noticed that they'd hardly been touched. She could understand not eating because the girls were more interested in the kimonos, but still...it felt a little pointless for that all to be out there and not be eaten. The poor food...

Her stomach grumbled and she rubbed it. Soon, she'd get to eat. Soon.

There were a couple more squeals. Aki, hoping to get out of the spot she'd been standing in for the last half hour, headed to the sound of the squealing. She leaned around one of the walls and noticed Haruhi holding a beautiful pink teacake and a small crowd of girls gathered around, a bit teary eyed. Tamaki stepped in front of her and leaned down, placing another teacake in her hand. She looked rather irritated.

Aki walked over to the twins. "What happened?" she asked.

"We gave Haruhi a teacake and she said she'd put it at her mom's grave, then the girls started getting all teary," Hikaru said. Kaoru nodded.

"Here, Haruh-chan, I'll give you mine!" Honey said, putting another teacake in Haruhi's hand.

"I don't need this much!" Haruhi exclaimed. Aki frowned a little. She wanted a teacake, too. Maybe two, so she could bring one back to Auntie.

"Oh?" Aki looked up at Hikaru who was looking towards the entrance. There was a girl there, but Aki'd never seen her before. It wasn't much of a surprise, the school was large so she didn't know everyone, but it was interesting to see someone new.

Kaoru noticed the girl, too. "Well aren't you a new face?" he said, smiling at her. "What's wrong? Just come on in."

"Come!" Honey said, having noticed the girl, too.

"Hey! Be softer to the new guest," Tamaki snapped at the two before walking over to the new girl. "Don't be scared, princess. Welcome to the Ouran Host–"

At that moment the girl slapped Tamaki away. Aki's eyebrows raised. Now _that _was something she had never seen before.

"DON'T TOUCH ME YOU FAKER!" the girl screamed. Tamaki stumbled back. Apparently nothing like that had ever happened to him before. "I cannot _BELIEVE _you're recognized as a prince in this club! A prince shouldn't sprinkle his love so easily! It makes girls' hearts tremble if you smile with sorrow, but why do you look so _stupid_!? It's as if you're a lightheaded _NARCISSIST_! _USELESS_! Too ordinary! YOU'RE THE _WORST_!"

Tamaki fell back from theshock. Aki was frozen in shock. She didn't know who this girl was, but she didn't think that she and Tamaki knew each other (if they had he probably would have greeted her like a friend), and he hadn't even said anything super flirtatious to her, so why was she yelling at him?

"Kyoya-sama!" she suddenly said, turning to Kyoya. She was crying. Then she hugged Kyoya and Aki's blood ran a bit cold. Kyoya didn't seem to be the huggy type. How would this end? "I wanted to see you so badly...My one and only prince..."

"Who is that?" Aki asked. Kyoya look at the hosts who were gathered together (except for Tamaki who was still in shock) and gave them a sort of "You know what to do" look, but Aki sure didn't know what to do.

"Sorry everyone!" Honey said, turning to the clients. "We have to end early!" They all started to groan and whine.

"But, before you leave, you should do us a favor!" the twins said. That got their attention.

"See, Aki-chan's family and friends have been asking for pictures of her in her kimono," Hikaru said.

"But she hasn't been able to take very many because of the club," Kaoru said.

"Wait, what are you–?" Hikaru put a finger over Aki's lips.

"It would be a big help to us if you could all take pictures with Aki-chan so she's got something to take to her family!" Hikaru said.

"And, who knows, maybe you all could end up in the next picture book!" Kaoru added. That seemed to get them really interested.

"Let's do it!" one girl said.

"Yeah! Pictures with Aki!"

"Alright! Just step outside the club room for a moment and a photographer will be out in a bit!" Honey said.

"I never agreed to this!" Aki snapped at the twins.

"Just keep them busy for a while," Kaoru murmured. "At least until we can get that girl off of Kyoya and Tamaki back on his feet."

"Go on now," Hikaru said, nudging Aki. She sighed but ended up walking out of the club room with the girls. She didn't want to do it, but then again at least she was actually getting to do something.

Soon after everyone was outside, Emiko came out with a camera in her hands. Rei directed the girls and got them to line up. When the first girl went up they posed together, though Aki had to bend down a little because she was taller than the girl. Emiko smiled and took a few pictures, then they switched poses and took a few more. After that the next girl went, and then the next girl, and then the next girl, and so on. Aki's face started to hurt after a while.

It seemed like forever, but finally the last two girls (who happened to be Rei and Emiko) got their pictures taken and left. Aki twisted the camera around in her hands and shook her head. Her family and friends were going to have a lot of pictures. So many that she was pretty sure they'd get sick of them.

She went back into the club room, rubbing her tired cheeks. All the smiling really hurt.

Inside there was only the girl who sat on a couch, apparently waiting for the others to come back. Aki awkwardly made her way to the dressing room, but the girl didn't seem to be paying any attention. Haruhi stepped out of the dressing room just as Aki reached it.

"Give this to the twins for me," she said, handing Haruhi the camera.

She hurried inside and pulled off her kimono and hair clip, setting them on the mannequin. Then she grabbed her dress and pulled that on as quickly as she could. She didn't want someone popping in and seeing her in only her underwear. After she was dressed she grabbed her bag and stepped back outside, deciding to put her shoes on out there.

The others were out there now. Tamaki was sulking in a corner while everyone else was gathered around the girl. Aki slipped her shoes on and listened to the conversation.

"Fiance?" the twins said. "Kyoya-senpai's?" Kyoya had a fiancee? Why didn't he tell anyone?

"Yes! I'm Renge Hoshakuji. I'll be in grade 10 class A from tomorrow."

So there was a new student in her class. Well, she hoped they got along, or at least Renge wouldn't bother her much.

Aki walked over to the hosts after her shoes were on. They were all looking at Tamaki.

"See, he's angry," Kaoru said. Tamaki seemed to be sulking even more now.

"All because Mom was hiding something from Dad," Hikaru said.

"Mom?" Aki asked.

"Kyoya-senpai," he said.

"Tamaki's the dad," Kaoru said.

"Whatever, but will you keep that couple status from now on?" Kyoya asked, a little irritated.

"It was really love at first sight," Renge said with a sigh, apparently not paying attention to what they had been saying. "Being affectionate to the backyard's plants which nobody paid attention to...kindly stretching his hand out to the injured kitty..." Aki raised an eyebrow. Kyoya didn't seem like the kind of guy to do that. But this person did sound familiar. Where did she know him from?

"It must be the wrong person," Haruhi said.

"Wait, Haruhi, you should be more polite to Kyoya-senpai!" the twins said.

"NO! My eyes are justice!" Renge yelled. "Kind to everyone, and never asks for anything in return! Loves the solitude but actually hate the loneliness!" Who was she talking about? "The throbbing love simulation game...YOU!" Renge said, pointing at Kyoya. "Who looks like Ichijo Miabi-kun from _Uki Doki Memorial_!"

Oh! That's who it was! Aki remembered the guy now. Kasumi loved Ichijo (though she was pretty infatuated with the other characters as well) and had been obsessed with the game at one point, and, Aki wasn't going to lie, she had been pretty into it, too.

The others (aside from Kyoya) seemed to be freaking out. Aki couldn't tell if it was because Renge had compared Kyoya to a video game character, or because she had that otaku vibe.

"I see," Kyoya said. "A girl with a lot of interest in characters. She replaces me with her favorite character, makes me her fiance, and gets lost in her wild fantasies..."

"Her wild fantasies...? Isn't she your fiance...?" Tamaki asked. Kyoya smiled a bit and shook his head.

"I don't remember affirming that fact even once." Tamaki seemed pretty relieved.

"From what I've seen from the report, you're managing everything in this club, Kyoya-sama?" Renge said.

"Yes!" Honey replied. "Kyo-chan is the store manager."

"The store manager! It suits him very well! Oh, it was my dream to be a draw-girl for the store!"

"We don't need one; we're a host club," Hikaru said.

"We're not a bakery," Kaoru said. "And, anyway, if we needed a draw-girl we'd just get Aki to do it."

"No you wouldn't," Aki said. That wasn't in her job description.

The twins raised their eyebrows. "Yes, we would," they said, looking and sounding like they fully intended to force her to wear a sandwich board.

"I've decided!" Renge exclaimed, drawing their attention. "At the same time I'll prepare to be a bride, I'll be an administrative assistant for the Host Club!"

Aki glanced at Kyoya. He wouldn't really let some random girl make herself part of the club, right? It's not like she had a debt, so why should she join? And there were a bunch of other girls Aki knew who'd kill to work with the club. Kyoya knew it, too. He got few girls come up to him about joining ever since Aki had "joined".

"Kyoya..." Tamaki muttered.

"She's the daughter of one of the important business partners of my family," Kyoya explained. "Please take good care of her." Tamaki let out a small sigh.

"...As you heard."

"Haruhi." Him and the twins turned on Haruhi. She looked a little scared.

"This is part of your host training, Haruhi!" Tamaki cried while he, the twins, and Mori and Honey ran off. Hikaru grabbed Aki and pulled her away with them. "Father will be cold-hearted!"

Everyone ended up outside the club room. Aki pulled her arm away from Hikaru.

"So, we're just going to leave her alone with Renge?" she asked. Not like she wanted to go back though. Well, okay, maybe she did, but only to talk about Uki Doki Memorial. Then again, she didn't want the hosts to over-hear her...

Tamaki nodded. "Sadly, we have to leave them alone. But it will be good for Haruhi to bond with another girl!"

"You just don't want to be in the same room as Renge, right, M'lord?" Hikaru and Kaoru asked.

"Since she called you a fake prince," Aki added. "That's why you don't want to be the one to take care of her." Tamaki frowned at her.

"No! I just want my daughter to bond with another girl, and it _is _good host training."

"Whatever you say, Senpai." There was a pause and she waited for someone to say something. When they didn't, she turned on her heel and started walking away. "Bye."

"Where are you goin?" Hikaru and Kaoru said, grabbing her.

"Home. The club's over."

"Don't you want to stay?"

"Why?"

"We're going to spy on Haruhi and Renge."

"Not interested. I just want to go home." They huffed but stepped aside.

"Wait, Aki-chan!" Honey grabbed her hand. When she looked down at him he held out a green box. "Here!"

"Thanks?" She took the box and opened it to find manjyu, yokan, wagashi, four of the flowers that had been on the plates, and two teacakes. "Whoa!"

"Me and Takashi noticed you looking at the snacks like you were hungry, so we wanted to give you some," Honey said. "Oh, and the big flowers are edible!"

"Really?" She smiled at Honey and Mori. "Thanks, you two!" They nodded.

"We'll send you the pictures later," Kaoru said. Aki nodded and waved to the hosts.

"See ya," she said, continuing down the hallway with a smile on her face.

"Bye!" the twins and Tamaki chorused.

"Bye, Aki-chan!" Honey said. Mori waved.

Michiko squealed and pulled Aki into a hug, rocking her a bit on the couch. "Tomi-chan, you look _adorable_!"

"Auntie, be careful," Aki said, her voice muffled by her aunt's arms. "You almost hit my phone."

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself!" She laughed and released her niece. "You really do look cute, though. And the kimono looks amazing! Tomi, you should have Yuzuha make your Coming-of-Age Day kimono!"

"That what I was thinking."

"Okay, show me the next one."

Aki nodded and went to the second of many pictures. Michiko grinned, but when they reached the fourth picture it was pretty much gone.

"You're so stiff. Pose more," she said, pushing Aki.

"It gets better," Aki said, pushing Michiko. "I promise. Hikaru and Kaoru didn't like that I wasn't posing, either. Just wait a bit."

She showed a few more pictures, then finally the first of the poses came. Michiko laughed when she saw it.

"You still look stiff," she said, shaking her head.

"Well I didn't want to pose," Aki muttered.

"Why not? Pictures are boring when you're just standing there. Plus, you pose with me and Kasumi and Nobuo when we take sticky-pictures. And with pretty much anyone else."

"I'm comfortable enough to pose with those guys, though," Aki said. "Anyway, next picture." She went to the next picture in which Hikaru was posing with her. Michiko grinned.

"Who is that?" she asked.

"Hikaru Hitachiin," Aki said.

"Really? He's pretty cute, Tomi-chan," Michiko said, elbowing Aki and wiggling her eyebrows. Aki shook her head and pushed Michiko.

"Shut up, Auntie," she said with a laugh.

"But you think so too, right?"

"Well, yeah. But it's not like I like him more than a friend. I'm still getting used to being his friend."

Michiko chuckled. "Okay, next picture."

They flipped through a few more pictures of Aki and Hikaru, then came Aki and Honey. Michiko practically squealed.

"He's so cute!" she said. "Who is he?"

"Mitskuni Haninozuka," Aki said. "He's actually a third year at school."

"What? No way! He looked like he should be in elementary school!"

"Nope. He's in high school. And get this: He's older than everyone!"

"No! This kid? That's impossible!"

"That's what I was thinking! And wait until you see Mori. You'll really doubt that Honey's the oldest then."

They went through a couple more pictures of Aki and Honey (Michiko always commented on how adorable Honey looked) before reaching one of Aki, Honey, and Mori.

"This is Takashi Morinozuka," Aki said, pointing to Mori. Michiko gasped.

"He's so handsome!" She looked at Aki to see if she thought the same. Aki kept her mouth shut, and after a moment Michiko's eyebrows raised and she looked between Aki and the picture. "You know..."

"I don't like him, Auntie!" Aki snapped.

"But Tomi! He's so handsome."

"Auntie," Aki said in a dead serious tone.

"Tomi," Michiko said in the same tone.

"_Auntie_."

"_Hitomi_."

"I don't like him, Auntie! I don't even talk to him."

"Then start talking to him! Oh, I can see it now! You and Mori, dating! Then married! Then having kids! Who would look just as handsome as their father and as beautiful as their mother!"

Aki shook her head. This woman...

"Oh, but maybe somewhere along the way Mori would get engaged by his family who don't want him dating you! But he still loves you and you secretly see each other! Oh, and he could leave you cute little notes! Oh, and what if there's a problem when you get married where someone kidnaps you and Mori has to be the hero and save the day?"

"You watch too much TV," Aki said, shaking her head. At least this time she wasn't shot at her own wedding. "Anyway, that's not happening. I don't talk to him much and I don't like him."

"You guys would be pretty cute, though," Michiko muttered.

"Moving on."

Aki went through some more pictures and ended up in the ones were it was just her and Mori. She could feel Michiko smiling and was pretty sure she was thinking up some other odd scenarios for this fantasy romance. Then there were a few solo pictures, some with Kaoru, a couple with the twins, another one with Hikaru, and the last one with Kaoru. (She was pretty sure Michiko was making up fantasy romances for her and the twins, too.)

"I'm going to have to delete these after I show everyone else," Aki said, mostly to herself. She only had but so much space in her photo gallery.

"Don't delete them _all_," Michiko said.

"I'm not going to delete them _all_," Aki said. "Oh, there are a ton more coming, though. Hikaru and Kaoru told the girls that I needed to take pictures, so they had Emiko be the camera woman and I took a couple pictures with pretty much every girl that had been there. Kaoru said he'd send me everything later."

Michiko nodded. "Well, after you show the others, just put everything on your computer and send me the pictures so I can send them to the guys at work."

"Alright – hey, wait! Why'd you tell the guys at work anyways?" Aki asked.

"I couldn't help it. I always talk about you at work and it slipped. I didn't think it was a secret."

"Well...it wasn't...but Jin and Arata and some other guy were at the train station today and they wouldn't let me go to to school until I promised to send them pictures!"

"Yeah, they told me," Michiko said, laughing.

"Auntie! Don't laugh! _Theywouldn't let me go to school_."

"Oh, Tomi-chan, you didn't think they'd actually keep you from school, right? They'd have let you go eventually with enough time so you wouldn't be late."

"I know, but still! It was irritating."

Michiko laughed again. "That's not the worst of your problems, though. I'm sending these to your parents and siblings. Just think of what _they'll _say!" Aki let out a groan. Her parents were going to be as crazy as Michiko was about the boys.

**I'll explain some things:**

**Suzu-chan: "Suzu-chan" is Nobuo's nickname for Aki when she's wearing her Ouran uniform. The bottom of the dress is shaped like a bell, and the name Suzu means bell, so he calls her Suzu whenever he sees her in the uniform. When she's in anything other than that he just calls her Aki.**

**Nagajuban: Nagajuban is a kimono-shaped robe. It's there to keep the kimono from getting dirty since kimonos are hard to clean.**

**Obi: The belt of the kimono.**

**Haori: A kimono-like jacket.**

**Juban: Jubans are like the undershirts of kimonos, worn under the Nagajuban.**

**Ore: "Ore" is used to refer to oneself. It's a male-only word, like boku (which means the same thing; Females are considered tomboyish if they use the male words). Remember, everyone in this story is really speaking in Japanese, not English, so when Haruhi's talking about herself she uses "ore" instead of "watashi" (which is a unisex word, but usually females use "watashi" and males use "boku").**

**Karihimo: A sash used to hold things in place while getting dressed in a kimono.**

**Datejime: A sash used to tie the nagajuban.**

**Coming-of-Age Day: A festival day for people who are turning twenty in that year (20 is the adult age in Japan, like 21 in America). Females typically wear furisodes (a type of kimono) during the festival. Aki was referring to this when she was thinking about having Yuzuha make her a kimono when she was twenty.**

**Sticky-pictures: Sticker-pictures. In Japan they have picture booths where you can take pictures, edit them later on (like draw or write things on them or add effects), and when they print out you can stick them on anything.**

**Also, my timeline is still screwed up. This chapter is supposed to be set in the first week back from the new year, but instead I think it's set about two or three weeks after. Sorry.**


	7. Chapter 6

"She did what?"

"Gave us 'improved characters'."

Aki frowned and adjusted her phone on her shoulder. The twins had called her a while ago and (after telling her what their mother said about her being adorable in the kimono) started telling her about what happened after she'd left. Apparently Renge had improved the hosts' characters to make them more appealing to the clients.

"What are they exactly?" Aki asked, putting her pencil down and setting her homework aside for the moment.

"Well, Honey-senpai is supposed to be the cute guy who's actually a 'beast'," Hikaru said. "Mori-senpai takes care of Honey by being with him all the time and is supposed to make his speeches more dignified? That's right, right, Kaoru?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's it," Kaoru said. "Haruhi's a poor–"

"_Super _poor," Hikaru corrected.

"Yeah, super poor. She's a super poor honor student who's being bullied. Tamaki's an idol who's appearance is always complimented but he's really lonely."

"And then we're supposed to be suffering because no one can tell us apart," Hikaru said.

"And we play basketball," Kaoru added.

Aki shook her head. It sounded a lot like the characters in Uki Doki Memorial. She'd have to play it again to be sure, though...

"How about Kyoya-senpai?" she asked.

"She wants him to be 'the same'," Hikaru said. "Or, you know, like that Ichigo guy." Aki smiled a bit.

"His name isn't 'Strawberry'."

"Ichirou, then," Kaoru said.

"Ichijo, guys. It's not that hard a name to remember. Anyway, what did Kyoya have to say about this?"

"He didn't say anything, he just went along with it. And you should have seen Tamaki. He was totally into the whole 'Lonely Prince' thing. He was posing and everything!"

_How dramatic_, Aki thought. "She didn't say anything about me, did she?"

"Nah. Maybe she'll say something about you tomorrow," Hikaru said.

"I hope she doesn't." She didn't even think there was anything that fit her.

"Tomi-chan!" Michiko called. "Dinner time!"

"Coming! Guys, I've gotta go. See you at school."

"See you, Puppy," the twins said. Aki rolled her eyes and hung up.

Aki sat down at her desk and yawned. She'd spent a better part of last night playing Uki Doki Memorial while her aunt watched. She went through it pretty fast since it was only a dating sim and nothing really strategic, and ended up going through each story line after finishing Ichijo's. By the time she was finished with the whole game it was around one o'clock in the morning. She only had a few hours to sleep.

"Already losing my buzz?" she mumbled to herself before taking a gulp of coffee.

"Hey, Puppy." She felt something poke her back. Looking back, she found that it was the eraser of a pencil.

"Yeah, Hikaru?" she said.

"You look tired. What were you doing last night?"

"Studying."

"For what? We don't have a test in anything today."

"I don't...I don't even remember." Aki shook her head and took another sip of coffee. It was cold by now and wasn't doing her any good.

"Well, don't fall asleep, alright?" he said, tousling her hair. She frowned and reached up to adjust her hat, then realized that she didn't have one on. She must've forgotten to put it on before she left. She hoped that was the case. Hikaru chuckled.

"Let's begin," Mr. Watanabe said, getting everyone's attention. Aki drank the last bit of coffee, hoping that it would keep her awake for a while.

Needless to say, the coffee did not keep her awake. She fell asleep during chemistry (the lecture on atomic structures did absolutely nothing the help her stay awake) and slept through pretty much the whole class. Thankfully she was in the very back of the science room so Mr. Watanabe didn't notice a thing. She was a little sad that she'd fallen asleep, but at least she was awake for her next class, even though she still felt sleepy.

At lunch time she was prepared to go to some room and take a nap, but Rei and Emiko dragged her to the cafeteria.

"It's not good to miss out on lunch," Emiko had said when Aki tried to protest. "Sure, you'll be rested, but you'll be starving!"

"Food gives you energy, too!" Rei said. "And, anyway, if you go to sleep you'll end up even more tired when you wake up! And cranky."

"Very cranky," Emiko said with a nod.

The two of them sat her down at one of the tables, then hurried off to get lunch. They came back with four plates, two with choice A (juicy steak, baked potato with cheese, and steamed vegetables), one with choice B (lamb with sauce, mashed potatoes with gravy, and baby carrots), and one that was full of sweets.

"Figured you'd like the steak," Rei said, placing one of the steak dishes in front of Aki. The other was for herself.

"This is also for you," Emiko said, putting the sweets dish in front of her. There was a slice of pie, a slice of cake, pudding, and a bunch of bite-sized cupcakes and candies.

"But, you know, if it's too much you can just, y'know, give it to me."

"Rei!"

"To Emiko, too."

"Rei..."

"Well I can't eat all of that, so take as much as you want," Aki said, picking up a piece of her already cut steak.

"Oh, and this is for you, too." Emiko set a cup of coffee next to Aki's plates.

"Thanks."

The girls ate their lunch. While they did, Rei started to talk about Renge.

"Weird girl, huh?" she said. "That Renge girl...Aki, did you see her hit Tamaki-senpai?"

"Yep."

"That was crazy! I don't think anyone has ever hit him! I even asked Kaede and she said that she'd never seen anyone hit Tamaki. Act rudely to him, yeah, but not hit him!"

Emiko shook her head. "She's an otaku, too. Figures." Aki raised her eyebrows a bit. She was pretty sure she heard a bitter tone in the girl's voice. Weird. Emiko wasn't the type to be mean or anything. Maybe she was just more tired than she realized. Although, part of her wasn't so surprised that Emiko would have that sort of tone. Not many people actually liked otakus.

"I'm sure not _all _otakus would hit someone," Rei said. "She was probably just scared. Wouldn't you hit someone if you were scared, Emi?"

"Hit someone? Emi-chan?" Aki let out a laugh. "She'd hurt herself."

"Would not!" Emiko protested. Rei laughed.

"You would. You can't even high-five my dad without going, 'Ouch! Mr. Noguchi, you hit too hard!'" Emiko blushed and stuffed a cupcake in Rei's face. "Mmm! Chocolate!"

Aki was taking a sip of her coffee when that happened and started to laugh but ended up choking on a bit of the drink. So there she was, laughing in between coughs and trying not to spill her drink. Rei pulled the cupcake away and laughed at Aki who started to laugh and cough even harder at seeing the icing on Rei's face. That just made Rei laugh even harder.

"These two..." Emiko shook her head and put a napkin on Rei's face. "Pipe down. You're getting a bunch of weird looks."

"Sorry...Emi-chan..." Rei said through a couple laughs that slowly became giggles. "It was just so funny."

"Who laughs at someone nearly choking, anyway?" Rei and Aki raised their hands. Emiko shook her head again and started wiping icing off of Rei's face. "Your face is a mess, Rei."

"It's your fault."

"Are you alright Aki-chan?"

"I'm fine," Aki said, wiping away a couple tears.

"Awake now, aren't you?" Rei asked. She nodded.

"But my throat is burning."

"It'll pass soon."

The three of them finished their lunch (and Aki and Rei ate most of the sweets and Aki got another cup of coffee) and put everything away. Aki felt more awake than ever, but she wasn't sure if that was a good thing. She felt a bit hyper, too. She couldn't stop bouncing in her seat during class and even if she did stop for a moment her finger would tap on the table or her leg would shake up and down. Hikaru kept teasing her about it. Eventually once school ended Kaoru started teasing her, too.

"Try to calm down for a moment, Puppy," Kaoru said, putting his hand on her head to keep her still while they headed to the music room.

"I don't think I should have had all of those sweets and coffee," Aki said. She was a little less hyper than before, but still had a bounce to her step.

"Try not to scare away all the customers," Hikaru said as they reached the club room.

"I'll be fine, don't worry."

The twins opened the doors, saying, "Ladies first." Aki giggled, though if she weren't under the effects of caffeine and sugar, she'd have probably just rolled her eyes and smiled. It wasn't really funny, anyway.

As soon as Aki stepped into the room she felt a different atmosphere. It wasn't bad or anything, it was just...off.

In the middle of the room was Renge, standing with her hands on her hips and rolls of paper in her hands. Her smiled grew a bit wider when the twins walked through the door. The other hosts were around her with rolls of paper in their hands, too. No, wait, scripts. That's what they were, or at least that's what they looked like.

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" Renge headed past Aki and went right up to the twins. She held out the scripts. "Here!"

"What's this?" Hikaru asked.

"A script," Aki answered. He rolled his eyes.

"That's obvious, but what for?"

"Well, it's got a title, doesn't it?"

"We're making a movie!" Renge said over Aki. "A movie with all of your new and improved characters."

"New and improved? But all you did was add a dark side or something," Aki said. She meant to keep that to a thought, but it slipped out. "Like, Honey's a bully, right? But that's it? Mori...well, other than having him talk more, you didn't change anything, I don't think. The twins only joined the basketball team. I mean, okay, maybe they don't have a problem with being confused for each other, but I think they do. I mean, _I _sure would if I had an identical twin twin. Haruhi's just bullied. Tamaki's probably not lonely or anything." Everyone was pretty much a copy of the game's characters. "As for Kyoya..." She gave a small giggle and hid her smile behind her hand, trying not to seem rude to her senior.

Renge turned on Aki with a big frown on her face. "And _who _exactly are _you_?"

She hadn't seen her yesterday? And they were sorta in the same class. Although, Renge was at the front of the class and Aki was in the back, and Renge only looked back to peek at the twins and Haruhi. "I'm Aki Fukuda in class 1-A."

"She's our Puppy," Hikaru and Kaoru added.

"They mean I'm the maid," Aki said, rolling her eyes. "I serve the drinks and snacks and I clean up after everyone."

"Well, Miss Aki, their characters have been improved," Renge said a bit slowly to get her point across. "I couldn't change _everything _about them. Anyway!" She turned to the twins. "You two need to study this! We're filming today!"

"But what about the club?" Kaoru asked.

"Activities have been canceled for today! Kyoya said so." The twins looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Do I have to study?" Aki asked.

"Well I didn't even know you until today, so there's no character for you."

"Can I have a character?" Not like she really wanted one, she was just curious about what she'd get.

"No. The script's already been made."

"But that –"

"Also, you aren't even important, you're just a maid, so you don't need a character."

Aki was suddenly very still while the twins snickered behind their hands. "Rude." But, she was right.

Renge bounced off towards Kyoya, going on about how excited she was. Aki shook her head.

"Well, I'm off!" she said, heading to the door.

"Where are you going?" Kaoru asked.

"Home. We don't have the club today, so there's no reason for me to stay, and I'm not going to sit around and watch you guys make a movie, _and _I'm not important anyway. Oh, but if she needs someone to play the girl that gets in the way of people's pairings, call me. I could play the part. Anyway, I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," the twins said, waving at her. She waved back and left the room.

"Happy filming," she said to Haruhi when they passed each other.

"What?"

"Show me the final product, okay!"

"Wait, what are you talking about? Where are you going? We have to be at the club!"

"I don't! Goodbye and good luck."

Michiko had a laughing fit when Aki came out of her room that evening.

"Your hair, Tomi-chan!" she laughed. Aki yawned and grumbled about how she didn't care about her hair. Michiko's laughing subdued and she got up to fix her niece's wild hair that was sticking out all over the place. "Well, I shouldn't be surprised that it's such a mess. You were tossing and turning in your bed. How was your nap, by the way?"

"Tiring," Aki said, rubbing some dried drool off of her cheek and grimacing. Michiko chuckled and smoothed out Aki's hair.

"There, all better...eh, sort of. Now c'mon, I made curry rice."

"You made it or you bought it?"

"I _made _it!" Michiko said, quite pleased with herself. "I think it turned out pretty good."

Aki nodded and they took their plates of curry rice and their drinks (calpis for Aki, melon soda for Michiko) to the table.

"Smells pretty good," Aki said. Michiko grinned.

"Yeah! Now it just better taste good."

"It better?"

"Yes, it better! Or else I will have made all of this for nothing and I'd have wasted food."

Aki nodded and the two of them started to eat. Aki took one bite and ate it rather slowly, her face forming a grimace. Michiko frowned over at her.

"It's not good?" Aki shook her head. "But...Well, I'll just eat it anyway." She put a bit of food in her mouth, hesitated, then glared at Aki who started to laugh. "You liar!"

"Sorry!" Aki laughed. Her aunt rolled her eyes and reached across the table to flick her forehead. "Ow...That's child abuse..." That got her another flick.

"Anyway...how was school?"

Aki shrugged. "Fine."

"Elaborate."

"It was fine."

Michiko rolled her eyes. "Details, give me details."

"Okay, okay. Well, I was tired for most of the day, then at lunch I choked on my coffee –"

"What?!"

"I'm fine now, aren't I? Anyway, I choked on my coffee _from laughing _and had a bunch of sweets, then I got hyper and was pretty hyper until sometime after I got on the train to come back home. Oh, and Hikaru and Kaoru were teasing me after lunch."

"I see. Oh, by the way, how come you were home so early? I always get back before you."

"Always?"

"Well, when I don't have to work late. Anyways, what happened?"

"Well, you remember when I told you about Renge, right?" Michiko nodded. "And how she plays Uki Doki?" Another nod. "And how she gave the hosts different characters?"

"Tomi-chan, I got it."

"Okay, okay. Well, apparently today she's having them make a movie with their 'new-and- improved' characters, so the club activities were canceled just for that. I'm pretty surprised Kyoya-senpai even agree to that, though he did say that she's the daughter of a business partner of the Ootori's, so I guess that's why he did."

Michiko nodded. "But you didn't stay. Don't you have a character?"

"Nope. I even asked Renge and she said that I didn't need one because I was just a maid, so therefore I wasn't important."

"That's rude!"

Aki shrugged. "That's what I said, but, eh. She's right, I'm not important. The hosts are important because they're _the _hosts, the ones the girls go to the club for. I'm just the girl in the background who refills their teacups and sets out snacks. They sure don't go there for _me_."

"But...even if you aren't important to the club, that still wasn't nice."

"It was honest. And I'm glad she said that instead of making up some silly excuse. Although she did say that the script was already made, but that's a pretty good reason to not insert a new character, anyway."

"Well, alright, that is a good reason. You sure you couldn't have been a character, though? I'd have liked to see you in a movie."

"Well, I did joke with Hikaru and Kaoru about being that girl that gets between everyone's pairings, but that's it. I didn't even want to stay, anyway."

"Ah, well. Hey, get a copy for me, alright? I wanna see what it's like."

"So do I."

Aki plopped down at her desk and turned to face Hikaru. He looked up from his notebook and raised his eyebrows at her.

"Yes, Puppy?"

"How'd it go?"

"It's was okay. Kinda fun, but nothing really special."

"Was it sappy?" He nodded.

"Very. You should have seen Tamaki."

"You should have been there, Puppy," Kaoru said, having appeared at Hikaru's desk. He leaned against it and smiled at her. "It got interesting towards the end."

"How so?" Aki asked.

"Well, at some point Renge brought over two guys from class D and they got into an argument."

"Then they pushed Renge and Haruhi saved her from hitting some of the set," Hikaru continued. "Right, Haruhi?" He reached over to his left and nudged Haruhi.

She looked up from her textbook and gave them a confused look. "Right what?"

"You saved Renge."

"Oh. Well, I wouldn't say I saved her. That seems...I dunno, a little exaggerated."

"Anyway, that's what happened," Kaoru said. "Then Tamaki saw and I think Haruhi was crying?" He looked over at her and she nodded. "Yeah. Haruhi was crying."

"You were really crying?" Aki asked, leaning towards Haruhi. "Did it hurt real bad?"

"No, no, my contact lenses just slipped," she said.

"Oh."

"Back to what happened with Tamaki." Hikaru glanced around the room, then motioned Aki closer. They leaned their heads forward and Kaoru bent down. "Tamaki thought the D-class guys had hurt Haruhi so he went up and punched one of them!" Hikaru said in a hushed voice.

"Really?!" Aki exclaimed. The twins shushed her.

"Really what?" Rei called from her seat. Most of their classmates were looking at her.

"It's nothing! Don't worry," Kaoru said before turning his attention back on Aki and lowering his voice. "We're not supposed to let anyone know about any violent act any of us did."

"How come? It's not that bad. Some girls like that," Aki said, her voice as quiet as his.

"Kyoya said so."

"Oh. Okay, then. But, I really can't believe that Tamaki-senpai would punch anyone! He's...Tamaki. I mean, I don't know much about him, but he doesn't seem like a violent guy."

"He isn't usually," Hikaru said.

"So, what happened afterward?"

"Kyoya broke the camera lens."

"What?"

Kaoru nodded. "Yeah, he just went and broke it 'cause they'd filmed the violent part and he didn't want them showing it. So no more film."

"Oh." Well, looked like Michiko wasn't getting her movie.

"But at least Renge realized that Kyoya wasn't like Ichigo –"

"Ichijo."

"Right, right. So, she realized that Kyoya wasn't Ichijo and we weren't any of those other characters."

"And that was it?"

"That was it," the twins said.

"Don't you regret not being there?" Hikaru asked. Aki smiled and shook her head.

"Nah. I had a nice nap when I got home. I'd have probably fallen asleep while you guys were doing your thing, anyway."

Hikaru and Kaoru shook their heads. Kaoru patted her head before going back to his seat and starting up a conversation with Haruhi.

"We do have the club today, so you have to stay this time," Hikaru said as she was turning around.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." She looked back and smiled at him. "What are you telling me for? Did you miss me yesterday?"

Hikaru rolled his eyes and smiled. "Not one bit. It was nice, actually, nice and calm, and we didn't have to look after a hyper pup." Aki stuck her tongue out at him and turned to face the front.

"Come and help us out, Puppy," Hikaru and Kaoru called. They were trying to move a couch, but it was a bit heavy for them.

"I'm kind of doing something already," Aki said. She was hurriedly setting the tables, trying to finish her last two before the girls came in (which was in a couple minutes) and not make a mess. She could feel Kyoya staring at her while she set everything.

_He's probably waiting for me to drop something, _she thought, glancing up at him. Yep. He was looking at her. _Note to self: Don't stay in the bathroom texting anyone before the club starts ever again._

"C'mon!" the twins said. Aki huffed and set her tray down, then went to the side Kaoru was on.

"Wait, I can't handle one side by myself," Hikaru said. He grabbed Haruhi and brought her over. "Help me out, Haruhi."

"C'mon, Haruhi," Kaoru said. Haruhi sighed.

"Alright, alright," she said, grabbing a corner of her side. The others followed suit and they were able to lift the couch. They moved it to the front of the room with some difficulty and Aki nearly dropped it when it was in the right place.

"Slowly..." Kaoru muttered. "Don't drop it or else we'll all be in trouble."

"I'm not gonna drop it," Aki said, though her hands were telling her to do just that.

They all lowered the couch onto the ground and fell onto the armrests. Tamaki immediately sat on the center cushion.

"Tamaki-senpai..." Haruhi said, panting. "Can't we stick to chairs?...Those are easier to move."

"I can't always sit in a chair. It would get boring," Tamaki said.

"Why don't you move the couch next time...then?" Aki muttered. She got up and went back to grab her platter and finish setting tables, fanning herself the whole time. Thankfully she was able to finish setting the tables before the club started, though she did spill some tea.

The hosts and Aki quickly got into place. The doors opened and the usual "Welcome" was said. There was squealing, but Aki didn't think much of it until she heard the girls say, "We bought the video!"

Aki stepped forward. What video? Not the one they'd done yesterday, right? Kyoya had destroyed the camera, right?

"The scene in the rain was the best!"

"I was blown away by Hikaru-kun and Kaoru-kun's deep relationship!"

"I want to see Honey-kun's evil side!"

No, that sounded like what they probably did yesterday.

Aki headed over to Haruhi and nudged her. "Are they talking about what you guys did yesterday?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"But didn't Kyoya break the camera?"

"Yes. Maybe he got the footage first?"

"Kyoya..." Tamaki said. He didn't look like he was in the best mood.

"Do you think I'm such an idiot as to break the camera without taking the data first? The sales are going just fine. Of course, the violent scenes have been edited." Kyoya closed his notebook and turned to Tamaki with a small smile on his face. "Aren't you happy to have more money for the club?"

_He just looks for any opportunity to make money, huh? _Aki wondered. This and the picture books (Rei had shown her one that she'd gotten). What else would he use?

There was a tap on her shoulder. She turned and saw Rei and Emiko.

"Did you see it, Aki-chan?" Emiko asked.

"The video? No."

"Aw, really? It was good!" Rei said. "I can lend you my copy!"

"You'd really?" Rei nodded. "Well, okay." So Michiko would get it after all.

"Okay! I'll bring it tomorrow, but don't keep it for too long, alright? Kaede hasn't seen it yet."

"You got it."

As soon as she stopped talking, she noticed Renge walk into the room and go up to Haruhi.

"I finally realized..." she started. "The kindness to protect me with all your might...The depth of your love admonishing me occasionally." She then took Haruhi's hands in her own, smiling at her with an infatuated look in her eyes. "This is what you meant by fall in love with the person little by little through looking at their personality, isn't it? Haruhi-kun."

That set Tamaki off. Aki shook her head a bit and went back to her spot, waiting for them to actually start hosting so she could do her job.


	8. Chapter 7

"Everyone! Meeting time!" Tamaki called. Aki sat down in front of him, wondering what this was about. The others sat down, though the twins sure took their time.

"What's this about?" Aki asked.

"Next week, on Valentine's day, we'll be hosting a dance!" Tamaki said, grinning.

"Another one?" Haruhi asked.

"Of course," Kyoya answered. "Valentine's Day is a very popular day to have a dance."

"It wasn't even our idea," Hikaru said.

"The school always has a Valentine's dance," Kaoru added.

"We'll just be the ones hosting and making sure everyone has a good time," Kyoya said.

"We also need to be the ones to decorate and set everything up," Honey added.

"What, you guys don't have a bunch of people to do that for you?" Aki asked, really just joking. Honey shook his head.

"So, who's going to be in change of decorations?" Tamaki asked.

"We will," the twins said.

"And the music?"

"We can get some suggestions from the classes," Kyoya said.

"Who's going to DJ?" Aki asked.

"I know someone who can!" Honey said. "He's in Tama-chan and Kyo-chan's class, actually. Um...Takashi, what's his name? Hisao Higa's little brother."

"Keiji."

"Oh, I know him!" Tamaki exclaimed. "He's really quiet, but really adorable!"

"And very shy," Kyoya said. "And not one for dances or crowds. I know, I've been around him before."

"But you can convince him to play songs, right?" Tamaki asked.

"I can try."

"If he doesn't want to, I have a friend who I don't think would mind," Aki said. "He's DJed for a bunch of school dances before, so this wouldn't be a problem."

"We'll keep him in mind," Kyoya said.

"What else?" Kaoru asked Tamaki.

"Mmm...well..."

"Do we need to bring food?" Aki asked. Tamaki chuckled and shook his head.

"No, of course not. We already have the chefs here making food for the dance...Well, we are going to be wearing suits. And a dress for Aki. But...maybe we can get Haruhi into a dress again?"

"Again?"

"A story for another time," Kyoya said. "Anyway, there's no reason for Haruhi to be in a dress, so we won't put her in one." Tamaki frowned.

"Are we wearing anything during the club?" Haruhi asked.

"Yes. Suits and a dress for Aki, like with the dance, only the suits and dress will be different for the club and the dance."

"Can I choose my dress?" Aki asked.

"Nope. We've already got that covered," Hikaru and Kaoru said.

"What, is your Mom making it again?" They nodded. "Doesn't she have something else to do? I mean, isn't there some Valentine's Day fashion show coming up? Isn't your mom in that?"

"Well, yeah, but she's going to make a bunch of dresses anyway," Hikaru said. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind making one – well, two – for you. She could use them in the show."

"What about the suits?"

"We can just rent them," Kaoru said. "Mom doesn't need to work on a bunch of suits."

"Tama-chan, can we have heart-shaped cake?" Honey asked.

"Sure!"

"How about cookies, too?" Aki asked. "Heart shaped cookies? And cupcakes?" Tamaki smiled and nodded.

"We can have those, too."

Kyoya tapped Aki's shoulder. "You do know how to dance, don't you?"

"With a partner? Sort of, I guess. I'm not an expert but I think I'm decent enough." Not really. She didn't usually dance with anyone. The last time was during a school dance and it was with Nobuo, but that was a long time ago, and they'd been stepping on each others feet. She knew the steps, though, she just wasn't good at it.

"Hm." Kyoya pushed his glasses up and turned to his notebook. Aki tried checking out what he was writing, but he managed to hold it away from her. "Well, I think that's all for today. I can handle anything else. And remember, we'll be practicing dancing next week."

"Why?" Haruhi asked.

"Because of you," Hikaru said, poking her cheek. "It's really just practice for you."

"When do we have to practice?" Aki asked, getting up.

"During lunch and after the club," Kyoya said.

"What? I can do lunch, but not after the club. I've got to get home."

"We'll be ending the club early next week," Tamaki said, smiling and patting her head. "Don't worry, Aki-chan. You'll get home on time."

"I'd better. See you later, Senpai."

"Bye, Aki-chan!"

She grabbed her bag and headed out of the room.

"Ow."

"Sorry."

"Ouch! Aki."

"I'm sorry!"

"Aki..."

"Look, I'm sorry!" Aki gritted her teeth and stepped away from Kaoru. That was probably the millionth time she'd stepped on his foot.

She huffed and ran her hand through her hair. She didn't think that dancing would be so hard, especially dancing as slow as they were.

"I'm not cut out for dancing," she said. "I'm terrible."

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "You're being ridiculous. This is only your first time in a while, right? Not everyone gets it on their first try."

"But the problem is that I know how it's supposed to go. I've seen people do it. And it's such a slow dance! So why's it difficult?"

"Hey, you two." Hikaru and Haruhi entered the club room with their lunches. Aki turned to her own and got a bit of meat onto her chopsticks, popping it into her mouth.

"Any luck?" Haruhi asked.

"No," Aki grumbled. "I keep stepping on Kaoru's feet."

"He's just not that good of a dancer," Hikaru said, putting down his food. Kaoru stuck his tongue out at his brother. "C'mon, try it with me."

"I don't think so..."

"You don't have a choice." Hikaru grabbed her hand and put his free hand on her back and under her shoulder. She sighed and put hers on his shoulder.

They started to dance, Aki counting _one, two, three _over and over in her head. In no time she'd screwed up and stepped on Hikaru's foot.

"Ouch!" He frowned, but kept on going. "Ow, ow!"

"Sorry, I'm sorry! Ow!" There were a couple more winces as they tried to continue going but eventually went from dancing to just stepping on each others feet and Hikaru squeezing Aki's hand too hard.

"This is a train wreck," Kaoru muttered to Haruhi.

"Shit – Hikaru, stop, let's just st–" She was cut of when they both tripped and went tumbling down.

Hikaru landed on his rear while Aki had fallen to her knees and hit her head on his shoulder. Both of them gripped each others hand.

"Damn it," Hikaru muttered, letting go of her hand. "Ugh, my ass."

"At least you made it out with a bruised ass and feet," Aki said, kicking his foot. "I've got bruised knees and probably a bruised head because of your sharp shoulder. And my hand..."

"Stop laughing, Kaoru," Hikaru snapped at his snickering brother.

"You're the better dancer, huh? That never happened when I was dancing with her," Kaoru said.

"C'mon, get up," Aki said, pushing herself to her feet. She took Hikaru's hand (the one that she hadn't tried to squeeze to death) and helped him up.

Then Kyoya and Tamaki walked through the door. Tamaki put down his lunch and immediately went over to Haruhi. Aki walked over to Kyoya, rubbing her head.

"I don't think I can do it, Senpai," she said.

"Do what?"

"Dance. I keep stepping on their feet, and just now I tripped and fell!"

"Well you aren't going to be perfect the first time. Keep trying. You aren't getting out of the dance no matter how hard you try."

_Damn it_, she thought. She really wanted to get out of it. Not because she didn't like dances, but she'd made plans with Kasumi on Valentine's Day. She'd rather be at home with Kasumi than at the dance.

"Do you want to be my partner? I think I scared away my last two."

Kyoya smiled a bit. "I'd rather not have my feet crushed. But I'm sure Tamaki would be glad to be your partner." He rose his voice at the second sentence, catching Tamaki's attention. He hurried over, stopping at Aki's side.

"I'd be glad to be Aki's partner!" he said.

"You sure about that?" Aki asked. Tamaki ignored her (or maybe he didn't hear her) and took her hand in his.

"Let's go, Aki-chan!" he said, pulling her to the middle of the room.

"Hey, Tamaki-senpai, I should warn you that I step on feet a lot. I mean, _a lot_. Ask Hikaru and Kaoru."

"I don't mind. If it'll help you learn how to dance, then it's alright." He stopped and turned her to face him. Aki sighed and put her hand on his shoulder while he put his under her shoulder.

They started dancing, Aki counting in her head again. In no time she stumbled over one of Tamaki's feet and stepped on the other. He only let out a small wince. After a couple more times he stopped and looked down.

"Maybe it would help you if you could see your feet," he said, frowning. "But you can really see them past your dress, huh?"

Aki looked down. "No." The skirt of the dress was too poofy for her to see her own feet. She was just stepping around blindly. "This would be better if I had pants."

"Then bring pants tomorrow, okay? Maybe it'll be easier."

"I hope so...Why do I even have to come to the dance? The host club's hosting it, right? I'm just a maid, not important. What, does Kyoya want me to clean up after everyone?"

Tamaki chuckled and patted her head. "No, no. You're part of the host club!"

"I'm the maid."

"You're still part of the club."

"An unimportant part."

"Oh, what, are you still stuck on what Renge said?" Hikaru called.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Aki said. They stuck their tongues out at each other. "And, no, I'm not. That's just how I feel about it, and I know I'm right."

"You're important!" Tamaki said. "You clean things up so the club room is presentable and you set things on the table so our clients don't go hungry or thirsty!" She gave him a skeptical look.

"Senpai, anyone can do that."

"Well...you're a girl. Another girl, so Haruhi isn't alone."

"She's around girls all the time."

"But you're the only girl who knows her secret."

"What does it have to do with me being important to the club?"

"You're keeping the secret. That's important."

Aki shook her head. "How about you go dance with Haruhi? I'm done for today."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay...but tomorrow we'll work hard, okay? Me and you!"

"If you say so." Tamaki grinned at her and she couldn't help but smile back. "Now go on and dance with Haruhi before someone else gets to her." He quickly left.

Aki sat down on a nearby chair and watched the twins and Tamaki argue over who got to dance with Haruhi first. Haruhi sat off to the side, finishing her lunch. Aki decided to start eating her lunch. She only had so much time to finish it all.

Honey and Mori entered the room a while later, apologizing for being late. Apparently they'd forgotten and didn't remember about practice until they'd finished their lunch. By this time Tamaki was sulking because Hikaru was dancing with Haruhi and muttering about how he stole his daughter.

"Hiya, Aki-chan!" Honey said, bouncing up to Aki with Mori right behind him.

"Hi," Aki said.

"Aren't you going to practice?"

"No. I'm done until tomorrow."

"What? But what about after the club?"

"I'm going to leave."

"Will Kyoya let you?" Aki shrugged.

"I dunno. I'll just skip out while he isn't paying attention."

And that was what she did. After school ended she went and did her job. Once the club was over, she set everything back in the snack room, grabbed her bag, and hurried out of the room. She heard the twins calling after her, saying something about Kyoya, but she kept going.

Thankfully she got to the train station without anyone grabbing her and dragging her back. She hopped onto the train and headed home.

When she got there she stopped in her tracks. In front of her were Jin and Michiko, looking at each other. Well, they were looking at Aki now, but they had been looking at each other before she walked in.

"Am I interrupting something?" Aki asked slowly, closing the door and setting her bag down.

"No, no. We were just talking, but it wasn't super important," Jin said, smiling at her.

"What are you doing here so early?" Michiko asked.

"The club ended early," Aki replied.

"Oh, that host club thing?" Jin said. "You know, one time Michiko –" At that moment Michiko slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Auntie what?"

"Nothing, Tomi-chan, nothing," Michiko said. "Anyway, I thought you had to practice your dancing."

"What? Tomi-chan has to dance?" Jin said.

"It's a school dance and I have to go because my club it hosting it," Aki said.

"It's slow dancing, right?" She nodded. "So...you're getting close to boys, then?" Jin asked, smiling and wiggling his eyebrows.

"Shut up, Jin," Aki and Michiko said. He chuckled and held his hands up.

"Anyway, yes, I do have practice, but I didn't want to go today. I'm no good. During lunch I kept stepping on feet and tripping. I can't even see my feet past this dress."

"Do you need help dancing? I can help you out," Jin said. "I learned a couple slow dances when I was younger, and I'm pretty good at them."

"That's al–"

"I think you should help her," Michiko said. "She needs to get this down by Friday. It is Friday, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay! You guys can start right now!"

"Okay...I need to change first, though."

"Nonsense!" Jin said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the living room. "You don't need to see your feet to learn."

"You don't?"

"Nah."

"But how would you know? You're a guy, so you always wear pants. You always see your feet."

"Well..."

"Have you ever worn a dress?"

"Have you?" Michiko asked.

"No!" Jin said quickly. "No way! But, I mean, I'm sure you can learn even if you can't see your feet. You're wearing a dress to the dance, aren't you?" Aki nodded. "You probably won't be able to see your feet even then."

_I hope that's not the case_, she thought.

"C'mon, just follow me first. Michi, you come on and join."

"Oh, no, this isn't for me."

"Yeah, c'mon and join, Auntie," Aki said, pushing her aunt next to Jin who wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Michiko sighed.

Aki stood opposite of Jin. He started off, moving forward with Michiko. Aki stepped back, then continued to mirror his movements. It felt nice to not have to worry about stepping on anyone's foot. Jin would tell her when she was stepping too forward or too much to the side. Sometimes when he'd step on Michiko's foot or she'd step on his foot, Aki would say, "You're stepping too much/too little to the side." The adults would stick their tongues out at her and she would stick hers right back out.

Eventually Michiko was done and went to sit on one of the couches. Jin decided to step up and actually dance with Aki. He took her hand in his and put his other under her shoulder blade.

"Michiko?" Jin said, looking over at Michiko. "Music, please!"

Michiko started to hum the Blue Danube. Jin stepped forward and Aki stepped back. Then they stepped to the side, then Jin stepped backward and Aki stepped forward.

"Too forward," Jin said when she stepped on his foot.

"Sorry."

They stepped to the side, then back, then to the side, then forward. After the first successful box, Aki started to look down at her feet. However, she was more focused on trying to see her feet than she was on dancing and didn't step far enough when Jin moved to the side.

"Tomi-chan."

"Huh?" She looked up, then noticed how she was facing his shoulder instead of his chest. "Oh, sorry."

There were a couple more mistakes until they got two successful boxes. Then Jin started turning when they went to the side. That's when Aki started stepping on his feet more and even tripping a couple times.

"Alright, we'll go slower, then." Jin looked at Michiko who started up Blue Danube again, this time slower than before.

Jin and Aki tried turning again. She was able to do it when they were dancing slower, but still had some trouble when they sped up.

"This isn't even full speed, you know," Jin said after stopping her. She sighed and shook her head.

"Thanks for helping me out anyway," she said. He smiled and nodded.

"No problem! Anything for a friend, especially a little cutie like you!" he said, patting her head, She swatted his hand away.

Jin looked over at Michiko who'd fallen asleep at some point and chuckled. "I guess she just got bored, huh? Here, play along." He walked over and gently shook her. "Hey, Michiko. Michiko."

A few shakes and Michiko cracked open her eyes. Jin smiled at her.

"Good morning, Michi," he said.

"Good morning, Auntie," Aki said. Michiko frowned and sat up.

"Good...morning?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. "It's morning? Why are you here, Jin?"

"Because you're late for work," Jin muttered. "Big Boss isn't happy, you know." Aki shook her head.

"What? I'm late?" Her eyes widened and she jumped up. "I'm late!"

Aki turned away to hide her smile. She hurried off into the kitchen to start making dinner. She could hear Michiko freaking out about her clothes and how she hadn't taken a shower yet while running around the house.

"Noodles would probably be good," Aki murmured, looking through the pantry.

"Michiko," Jin was trying to say over the frantic woman. "Michiko...Michiko!"

"What?" Michiko said, finally stopping. There was a long pause, then she blew up. "YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! MAKING ME BELIEVE I WAS LATE! I NEARLY HAD A HEART ATTACK! FUCKING HELL, JIN-HO!"

Aki briefly poked her head into the living room and saw Michiko hitting Jin while he laughed and protected himself.

"Hey, hey, calm down Michi," Jin chuckled. "You aren't even hitting that hard."

"Do you want me to hit harder? Because I can," Michiko said.

"Haaaah, no thanks."

There was another pause, then Aki felt two hands gripping her shoulders. She jumped and looked back at Michiko who was giving her a cold glare.

"Hitomi," she said darkly, digging her nails into Aki's shoulders. "You went along with it...Making your poor aunt think she was late..."

"Jin! Jin, help me!"

"You're doing better than yesterday," Tamaki said after finishing a successful box waltz. Without spinning, of course. "What'd you do after you left?"

"I had a friend help me out," Aki said.

"So this means that if I try again, you won't step on my feet?" Hikaru asked, watching Kaoru dance with Haruhi who was stepping on his feet a few times.

"As long as we're not spinning, then yes."

"A few more times," Tamaki said. They did a couple more boxes before Tamaki decided to start spinning. Without telling her. So she tripped.

"Damnit, Senpai," she said, hugging Tamaki's arm. "Tell me before you start spinning."

"Sorry, sorry." She let go and they got back into their original position.

"So we're spinning?" He nodded. "Okay. Go slow, alright?"

He nodded again and they started the dance again. Aki stumbled a couple times over Tamaki's feet and he over hers before wanting to stop, but Tamaki wouldn't let her.

"You made it a couple times," he said. True, she had done a few successful turns, but she just wanted to stop.

"C'mon, Tamaki-senpai. I gotta eat," she said, gesturing to her plate of uneaten food.

"One more time," Tamaki said. "Please?"

Aki shook her head and sighed. "Alright, alright, one more time. But slowly, okay? Just go slow."

Tamaki nodded and they danced one more time, slow enough for her to do successful turns. After it was over she let go and went to sit down next to her food. Tamaki went over to Kyoya and started talking to him.

"I hope I'm decent by Friday," Aki murmured to herself, poking at her lunch. "It can't be that hard to learn a dance like this..."

"Yeah, there's probably something wrong with you," Kaoru said. Apparently Hikaru was dancing with Haruhi now.

"Shut up."

Hopefully with practice every day and Jin helping her (he'd promised to come back and help her out every day. He'd even teach her more than just a box waltz) she'd be alright for the dance. If not then...well, something really would be wrong with her.


	9. Chapter 8

Today was Valentine's Day.

Yes, it was Valentine's Day. Aki didn't care much about it at first. It was just a holiday where couples really got together and would have romantic dinners and where schoolgirls would give boys chocolates and single people would mope about (well, maybe not all, but she knew a few people who would, like Michiko). Nothing really special.

It didn't bother her until she'd gotten to the classroom.

She could hear the girls as she made her way down the corridor. They were all very excited. When she got into the classroom she saw them all crowded around Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi's desks. She couldn't even see the three of them. Glancing around the room, she noticed some of the boys looking back at the girls with frown. Hardly any of them had a bit of chocolate on their desks. Mr. Watanabe sat at his desk, glancing at the girls from time to time. He looked exasperated and kind of depressed. Maybe he's single.

Aki made her way to her desk, having to move girls out of the way to get there and being careful to not drop the small plastic bag in her hand. She wasn't sure, but she didn't think they were all from her class.

_Maybe I should switch seats with someone, _she thought when she finally sat down. That way it would be easier for her to get to her desk when the girls decided to swarm the hosts.

The bell rang then and Aki let out a sigh of relief, as did every male in the room.

Mr. Watanabe got up and put on a small smile. "Alright, girls, time to start class!" he called over them. They left to go to their own desks, and a few rushed out of the classroom.

Once the area was cleared, Aki looked back at the three. They all had small piles of chocolates on their desks. The twins had sort of smug looks on their faces while Haruhi looked a little tired. Being a host must be hard in a way.

"Is it always this crazy?" Aki asked.

"I guess so. It was like this last year, too," Hikaru said.

She shook her head, then reached into the plastic bag and pulled out three small boxes. She gave one to Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi.

"There you go," she said. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"Happy Valentine's Day," the three of them said.

"Now you all better get me something on White Day, you go it?" They nodded.

"Miss Fukuda, please turn around," Mr. Watanabe said.

"Sorry, sir," she said, turning to face the front of the class.

Throughout the rest of class (and the ones after that) the girls were in a very excited mood. Aki knew exactly why: Today was the day of the dance. And, well, it was theme day and Valentine's Day, but the was pretty sure they were mostly excited because of the dance.

"I can't wait until it's time for the dance!" Rei said during one of the breaks. Aki had moved over to sit in an empty desk in front of Rei's. The owner of the desk was currently talking to Haruhi, probably going on about the dance or how she was excited for the theme day.

"I can," Aki said.

"You don't like dances?" Emiko asked.

"Eh, I like them, but I had plans with Kasumi for today, so we have to push them back." Kasumi wasn't too happy about that, but she decided to go to Tomoko High's dance so she wouldn't be waiting around for Aki. Hopefully the dances would end around the same time, or at least Ouran's dance would end earlier than Tomoko's.

"Oh, the girl your always talk about," Rei said. "By the way, when can we meet her? Or when can we go to your house? We've never been to your house before."

"Rei," Emiko said.

"It's fine," Aki said. "You can come over whenever, I guess, just tell me first. But, you know, it can't be today. Or this weekend, actually. This whole weekend is dedicated to Kasumi."

Emiko nodded. "Well, we'll wait until some other weekend, then."

"Back onto the topic of the dance! Oh, I can't wait to dance with the hosts," Rei said, swooning. "To dance with Kyoya-senpai..."

"So he's your favorite?" Aki asked. Rei smiled and shook her head.

"No, I don't have a favorite. I couldn't have a favorite! To be tied down to one man...I couldn't do it..."

Emiko shook her head. "That kind of thinking worries me, Rei." Rei laughed.

"Don't worry, Emiko!" she said, wrapping her arm around Emiko's shoulders. "I'm a loyal, faithful person."

"I hope so."

"Anyway, it's not only going to be a good night for me. Emi-chan will get to dance with her crush!"

"What? Emi-chan has a crush!" Aki said, giving a dramatic gasp. Emiko's cheeks turned pink.

"Rei, I told you not to tell anyone," she hissed.

"But Aki-chan isn't just _anyone_."

"How come you never told me, huh?" Aki asked, leaning closer to Emiko. "I thought we were friends, Emi-chan."

"We are!"

"So how come you didn't tell me? That hurts, you know."

"No, Aki-chan, I didn't mean–"

"It's alright, it's alright," Aki said, holding a hand up. "There are things I haven't told you guys either. So, what's his name?"

"It's...um...it's..."

Then the bell rang. Aki and Rei groaned. Mr. Watanabe got up and asked everyone to go back to their desks.

The rest of the school day went smoothly. The air of excitement kept increasing the close they got the end of school, and Aki was afraid the girls would explode into cheers when the final bell rang and swarm the hosts again. Thankfully, that didn't happen.

"Time to go," Hikaru and Kaoru said. They grabbed Haruhi and Aki and hurried to the club room. As soon as they got there the girls were pushed into their dressing room and told to hurry up.

They turned towards the two mannequins. The one with "Haruhi" written across its forehead had a light pink suit on it. The button-up shirt was white and had a pink vest on it. The pants were light pink as well as the pink blazer draped over the mannequin's shoulder. A hot pink bow tie hung around the neck. Black dress shoes were next to it.

The other mannequin had "Aki" written on it, and it did not have a suit on it. Instead there was a short dress. The dress was strapless with a sweetheart neckline (thank goodness she'd shaved). The top was all red and was separated from the bottom by a big pink ribbon around the waist. The bottom of the dress was a mass of layers of white fabric so it puffed out, sort of like a petttiskirt. Red fabric made the top layer of the skirt and it deteriorated into small red hearts. A couple hearts were dotted on the white fabric, too. A red headband with a rose on the upper-left corner was on top of the mannequin's head and white flats were next to the mannequin.

"This is pretty," Aki said, stepping up to the mannequin. "Don't you think, Haruhi?"

Haruhi nodded. "To be expected from Mrs. Hitachiin, right?"

"I guess so."

"C'mon, let's get this stuff on. There are curtains in the back."

Aki nodded and they grabbed their clothes. They got to the curtains, closed them, and started to change. Aki slipped out of her uniform and pulled on the dress. It stopped halfway down her thighs and she was glad that she was only wearing it inside. The back stayed just below her shoulder blades which she was glad for, but it felt weird not having anything covering her shoulders. She'd have to get used to it.

She slipped on the flats and put on the headband before leaving the curtained area. Haruhi was already waiting with her suit on.

"How do I look?" Aki asked, holding out her arms and turning around. The skirt bounced a bit when she moved.

"Pretty cute," Haruhi said.

"Well, thank you. You look pretty dashing yourself." They both chuckled, then stepped out the door. Well, Haruhi did. Aki tried, but as soon as she set foot out the door she was pushed back inside.

"Hair and makeup time!" the twins said. Aki stumbled back and saw Hikaru plug up a curling iron while Kaoru pulled over a chair and opened a bag of make-up.

"Sit," he said, pointing to the chair. She did so.

"Don't make me look crazy," she said. "Like with super red lipstick or eyeshadow or whatever."

"Don't worry," Kaoru said. "Now close your eyes." As soon as she did he went to work. He put black eyeliner around her eyes as well as little hearts near the corners. He also put on light red blush and light pink lipstick. It wasn't too noticeable, but it looked pretty good anyway. Hikaru took the curling iron and curled the ends of her hair, then made it so a couple locks were in front of her shoulders and the rest was against her back.

"Finished," they said, holding up a mirror. Aki raised her eyebrows and nodded.

"Pretty good!" she said, smiling at them. "Better than anything I could ever do, that's for sure." They smiled back and started to put things away.

"Hey, aren't you going to compliment us?" Hikaru asked while they walked out of the dressing room. She turned to face them. They were both dressed just like Haruhi and had roses in the pockets of their blazers.

"You both look very handsome," she said.

"Thank you," they said. "And you look adorable, Puppy."

"Stop calling me Puppy."

"Puppy."

"Stop."

"_Puppy_."

"You know what–"

At that moment she was picked up and twirled around. She could hear the twins say, "No, we don't know what."

"Aki-chan! You look so cute!" Tamaki squealed.

"Senpai, please put me down."

He put her down after one more second of hugging and grinned at her. "The dress looks really good on you!"

"Thanks. You look pretty good, Senpai. The suit...suits you." He was dressed the same as the others, but it really did look good on him. Looking behind him, she found that Kyoya, Honey, and Mori were dressed the same way. Even Usa-chan was wearing a suit. The suits really did look good on all of them, though.

Tamaki grinned. "Thank you!"

They all walked over to the others and Aki was complimented by Honey. Then Kyoya handed her a plate of snacks, but it wasn't anything grand. Today they would just be serving heart-shaped cookies along with rose tea.

"So..." Aki pursed her lips and looked at them all. They still had some time left until the club opened, so why not start up a conversation with them? "Do you guys have any valentines?" To her surprise, they all shook their heads. "What? Are you serious? _None _of you?" Not even Tamaki?! She could see Haruhi not having one, but she though the rest of the club would have one.

"We don't have time to get a valentine," Hikaru said.

"We're always focused on the club," Kaoru said.

"I don't see a benefit of having one," Kyoya admitted. Aki frowned and shook her head.

"But isn't there some girl that you like enough to consider having as a Valentine?"

"I would love to have every girl in the school as my valentine!" Tamaki said.

"That's not fair to the other boys, Senpai..."

Suddenly the twins appeared next to Haruhi and wrapped their arms around her shoulders.

"You know what, Kaoru? I think maybe we should make Haruhi our valentine," Hikaru said.

Haruhi frowned. "Huh?"

"I'm sure the boss wouldn't mind," Kaoru said. Then they kissed her cheeks.

That set Tamaki off. He started yelling at the twins and chasing them around the room. They just laughed and ran off, taking Haruhi with them. Aki shook her head.

"Aki-chan, Aki-chan!" Honey tugged at the end of her skirt, grabbing her attention. "Do you have a valentine?" She shook her head. "Really?"

"Yeah, but I don't mind." Now. She didn't mind now. She'd probably end up crying when she got together with Kasumi and going on about she hated being single.

"Ahem," Kyoya said, catching the attention of Tamaki and the twins. "It's almost time." Everyone rushed around to get into their places.

Aki glanced at the hosts. They all posed by holding roses out in front of them. Kyoya had his notebook opened and faced to the side a bit, holding the rose out with his right hand. Mori and Honey were next to him, Mori doing the same type of pose as Kyoya (minus the notebook, and he was facing the other way so he held the rose with his left hand) and Honey had Usa-chan in his right arm and the rose in his left. Tamaki stood in the middle with a bouquet of roses in his hand. He held it out in front of him and bowed a little. The twins were on his left with Haruhi sandwiched between them. They had their arms around her shoulders while holding out roses in their free hands. Haruhi held her rose in both hands. They all put on smiles just before the door opened.

"Honey-senpai looks so cute!"

"Even Usa-chan is dressed up, huh?"

"Haruhi looks so adorable!"

"The suits are really well made."

"I wonder if they're going to wear these to the dance?"

"No way. I heard they'll be changing suits."

The girls quickly split into their groups and a couple more squeals were heard when some of them were given roses.

Aki watched them all sit down, then turned to her plate of cookies in her hand. Her stomach grumbled a bit.

_I haven't eaten since lunch...and even then I didn't eat much_, she thought. _I'm sure no one would mind if I just ate _one _cookie_.

She glanced around, then picked up a cookie. Before she could take a bite, however, Hikaru and Kaoru called her over. She quickly dropped the cookie and walked over to them. As soon as she reached their section she could hear the girls letting out little gasps and "ooh"s and "aah"s.

Hikaru took the plate from Aki and put it on the table, then he and Kaoru pushed her in front of their clients.

"Ta-da!"

"Wow!" One of the girls leaned towards Aki. "This dress is so cute!"

"Did your mom make it?" another asked. The twins grinned and nodded.

"Yup! Just for Puppy!" Hikaru and Kaoru wrapped their arms around Aki's shoulders.

"Isn't she the cutest?" Hikaru asked. "Maybe even cute enough to be my valentine."

"But...I thought you said _I _was your valentine..." Kaoru said.

"Oh man," Aki muttered, hurrying away from them as they started their brotherly love act.

"Aki-chan, come over here!" Tamaki said, waving her over. As soon as she walked over he was showing her off the guests and talking about the dress.

"How cute!" one of the girls said.

"You're so adorable, Aki-chan!" another said. Aki just smiled and nodded.

That's pretty much how the club went for her. She'd go to a table, show off the dress, be called cute, then leave for another table. When Rei and Emiko showed up, Rei nearly flipped out, saying that she was jealous and she wanted to wear the dress, too. There were a couple times when Aki was alone (usually when she was getting more tea) and she spent most of it turning and bouncing around so the skirt would bounce. She couldn't help it, it was just fun to do.

Once the club was over she changed out of the dress (but not after taking a couple pictures for Michiko) and into casual clothing. She would have changed into her uniform if she was just going home, but Kyoya had told her the other day that everyone would stay after the club to decorate the ballroom (what kind of school has a ballroom?) so she brought a pair of jeans, a tank top, a jacket, and sneakers.

"Ready to go?" Aki asked Haruhi after they were dressed. Haruhi was wearing jeans, a sweater, and sneakers.

"Yep." They stepped out of the room and met the other hosts who were dressed pretty similarly. They all had on jeans and sneakers, a few had on tank tops and the rest had on t-shirts.

Once they were all ready, they headed off to the ballroom. It was just like Aki expected. Large with high ceilings, windows that went from the ceiling to the floor, chandelier hanging high above their heads, and floors that were polished so much that Aki could see her reflection. It even had a double staircase leading up to a high platform.

"This isn't like Tomoko's," she muttered. She was used to dances being held in a gym, but this was something else. How were they supposed to decorate it?

"Alright, there are decorations in the back," Kyoya said. "Ladders as well, and anything else you'll need."

"Let's go!" Honey said from his spot on Mori's shoulders. Mori walked to one of the doors at the back of the room while the others followed him, though Kyoya stayed behind.

"Aren't you coming?" Haruhi asked.

"I'm waiting for Mr. Higa."

"C'mon," Aki said, linking her arm with Haruhi's and pulling her along.

They followed the others into the room where they found boxes of decorations. They were all labeled and stacked up according to their different occasions. They were also ordered by time of the year and, if there were multiple parties or dances for the same month, by the day. On closer inspection, she noticed that even the boxes were set up in alphabetical order.

"Someone has OCD," she muttered.

"Here," Mori said, handing her box of decorations. She struggled with it for a moment, but eventually got it secure in her hands.

The hosts grabbed boxes, one for each of them (except for Mori who grabbed the ladders), and they all headed back into the ballroom. By that time another boy had arrived and was talking to Kyoya. He had fluffy, slightly curly black hair and glasses, but that's all she could really tell about him.

"Who's that talking to Kyoya-senpai?" Haruhi asked.

"That's Keiji Higa," Tamaki answered. "The DJ for tonight."

"Kei-chan!" Honey called. Keiji and Kyoya turned to the hosts. Honey waved to them. "Hi, Kei-chan!" Keiji hesitated, then waved back.

"Time to get to work," Kaoru said, putting his box down. Everyone else followed suit.

"Aki-chan, can you help me pull out the chairs and tables?" Tamaki asked. She shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, why not?"

They went back to the back room and started pulling out tables one by one while the others set up the decorations.

"So...are we having dinner here or something?" Aki asked when they set down the third table. Tamaki nodded.

"The ballroom opens at five and dinner will start at six."

"What?! Five! Senpai, we've gotta hurry!" She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the back room. "Come on, hurry up. Jeez, Tamaki-senpai, we don't have enough time for this!"

"Don't worry, Aki-chan. We'll have enough time."

"Five o'clock, Senpai! _Five_!"

"We'll have enough time," Tamaki said again with a chuckle. "Don't worry!"

She shook her head and grabbed a table. "Help me with this."

They continued to pull out tables until Kyoya told them that they had enough, then they got out the chairs. While they did this, the twins, Haruhi, Mori, and Honey put up the decorations which consisted of hearts, hearts, and more hearts. She was going to need a break from hearts for a while. And red. There was a lot of that, too.

The decoration team put red, pink, and white streamers wherever possible. They stuck roses of the same colors into vases on the wall. They blew up some balloons stuck them onto the vases. Tamaki, Aki, and Kyoya laid out red tablecloths on the tables. Small glass vases were placed in the middle of the tables. They put in little plastic hearts and rose petals to fill about a quarter of the vase, then put in tall candles. Kyoya had Aki, Haruhi, and the twins put red tablecloths on the four long tables in the back of the room and candles at the ends. Apparently the sweets and snacks would be on the long tables.

"Time to get dressed," the twins said after finishing the tables. They grabbed the girls and pulled them into one of the dressing rooms. They pulled two bags off of the clothes rack and gave them to the girls as well as black dress shoes for Haruhi and black flats for Aki.

"Hurry up," Hikaru said, pushing Haruhi behind one curtain.

"We'll be back for you," Kaoru murmured in Aki's ear before pushing her behind the other one. Once she was sure they left, Aki turned to her bag and unzipped it.

The dress had a single thick strap that went on her left shoulder, and the neckline was a sweetheart one. It was dark red and looked about floor length. Around the waist was a black ribbon that was tied in the front just above her right hip and was held together with a heart-shaped pin. The skirt of the dress fell down in waves and puffed out a little. The whole dress had some glitter or something like that on it because it started to glimmer when she moved it.

_I'm going to have to ban red in the house after this_, Aki thought, shaking her head.

Aki slipped out of her clothes and pulled on the dress, bouncing around a bit after it was on to see if the skirt would bounce like the short dress' had. It did. She slipped her feet into the flats before stepping out of the curtain.

Haruhi was already ready, she was just finishing tying her tie. She was dressed in a suit like before, but it was all white, and the vest and tie were red, and she had one white gloves.

"You look good," Aki said, walking up to her and nudging her. She turned to Aki and smiled.

"So do you," she said.

Then the door opened and in came the twins, dressed like Haruhi. They grabbed Aki and sat her down on a chair in the room, then did her hair and make-up. Her make-up was thick eyeliner, mascara, light pink blush, red lipstick., and light brown eyeshadow. The ends of her hair was curled a little more and it all rested on her right shoulder. A comb was put in her hair so it would stay that way.

"Done," Hikaru and Kaoru said, holding up a mirror.

"Wonderful like before," Aki said, getting out of her seat. They put their things away, then hooked their arms through Aki's and walked out into the ballroom.

Apparently someone had come in while they were getting dressed because the long tables were full of sweets and the round tables had plates and glasses on them with thin white doilies under the plates. And, she wasn't entirely sure, but she thought that she could smell cooked meat.

"Okay, we're all standing on the staircases," Hikaru said. "Except for Boss who's up on the platform."

"You'll stand in the center," Kaoru said, pointing to the area between the staircases. "Tamaki's going to make a speech when enough people are here, then we'll go eat at our own table–"

"Our own meaning just for us and Haruhi," Hikaru said. Kaoru nodded. "the other four will be right next to us. We get the tables up front."

"After dinner we'll start dancing."

"Don't step on my feet."

"If you don't want me to then don't dance with me," Aki said.

"Places, everyone, places!" Tamaki said. The twins set Aki in her spot before going to their own spots at the foot of each staircase. Behind Hikaru were Haruhi and Kyoya, and behind Kaoru were Honey and Mori, and Tamaki was at the top. Aki glanced around for Keiji, wondering where he'd gone off to, but didn't see him.

"Where's Keiji?" she asked Hikaru.

"Up on the platform with his laptop and out of the way," he answered.

"Oh."

There was a moment of silence, then the doors opened and students started to walk in. Aki rocked on her feet, waiting for Tamaki to start his speech. It took a while, actually, until he gave a loud, "Welcome!" and quieted everyone down. He then asked them to sit down before going on about how happy he was that everyone came and promising to have a good time. He said a couple more things, but Aki became more focused on the smell of food that kept getting stronger and stronger. Her stomach started growling at one point, and she was really, really grateful when Tamaki finished his speech.

"And without further ado, let's eat!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, a hoard of men and woman walked into the ballroom with platters of different foods. Pork chops, ham, steak, beef wellington, mashed potatoes, carrots, steamed vegetables, and other things. Her mouth started to water and she nearly ran to her seat. Well, she nearly ran to the _wrong_ seat.

"Ah ah," Kaoru said, grabbing Aki just when she was about to pull out a chair at one of the two empty tables. "That isn't ours."

"Does it matter?" she mumbled, but turned and pulled out a chair at the other table and sat down with her classmates. Tamaki sat down behind her at the other table with the rest of the hosts.

Two men stepped up to their table, showing them the different dishes. Aki got the pork chops with sliced ham and steamed vegetables. As soon as it was set down she started to eat.

_Amazing_, she thought, smiling a bit.

She ate every bit, savoring the flavor, and eventually cleaned off her plate. She was still kind of hungry and was tempted to ask the others at their table if they were going to finish their food. She didn't, and instead stuffed herself with sweets. After she was satisfied, she kept talking to Tamaki until Kyoya decided that it was time to dance. So, Tamaki stood up and told everyone that it was time to dance, and asking them to leave their seats even if they weren't going to. They all obliged and once everyone was up the men and woman from before appeared again and moved the tables and chairs to the walls, then set up the chairs along the inside of the tables for anyone who wasn't going to dance just yet.

"Aki-chan, Aki-chan, dance with me first!" Honey said, appearing at Aki's side and grabbing her hand.

"Alright."

As soon as the music started, Honey pulled Aki onto the dance floor. Others started doing the same, so they weren't alone. Aki and Honey started dancing, although it was more like they were playing helicopter. It started off as a normal dance, then they started to spin, and spin, and spin, and spin...

Eventually Rei appeared and asked to dance with Honey. They both nodded and when Honey wasn't looking, Aki mouthed, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Rei mouthed back.

Rei and Honey moved away. Aki held her head and tried to keep the world from spinning. She was blinking away the dizziness when someone grabbed her and started dancing with her.

"You look dizzy," Kyoya said.

"Because I am." She shook her head a little and danced quietly, still trying to get herself together. Eventually the world was stable, so she decided to start some conversation. "So, what? Not afraid of me crushing your feet now?"

"You've been doing good in practice, so I think I'm alright."

"Ooh, a compliment. You starting to like me?"

"I never said I didn't like you."

"You never said you did."

Then he took her into a dip. For a second she thought he was going to drop her.

"I never said I didn't."

"Got it, right, your never said you didn't," she said as he pulled her back up.

They danced until the song ended. Then she started dancing with Mori. Well, she didn't dance much. He instead had her standing on his feet while he turned around. It actually wasn't that bad, aside from the awkward silence.

"Thanks, Senpai," Aki said. He nodded.

Then it was Kaoru who was dancing with her. They started off talking normally, then somehow ended up making funny faces at each other. They kept that up until she stumbled over his foot and face-planted his chest, his chin hitting her forehead in the process.

"Ow," she said, chuckling and rubbing her head. "Sorry."

"Pay attention next time," he said, chuckling as well.

"Ah, well, song's over." She scrunched up her nose and glanced around. "Ooh, look, over there. I think there's a girl who'd like to dance with a certain someone."

Kaoru looked around until he noticed the girl that was looking right at them. She quickly looked away after realizing that she'd been caught.

"And I see a certain boss who looks like he'd like to dance with a certain someone," he said. Aki looked back and noticed Tamaki walking over to them.

"You don't know if he's coming to dance. Anyway, go on." She let go and turned towards Tamaki.

"Watch where you're going," Kaoru said.

"Yeah yeah, I will."

Aki and Tamaki walked up to each other and immediately went to dancing, smiling at their partner.

"Been having a good time?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yes! I've had a wonderful time with all the princesses!" he said, twirling Aki around. "Well, not all of them, but I hope to be able to dance with all of them."

"Well what are you doing with me, huh? If you wanna dance with all of them then get to it."

"But you _are _a princess, Aki-chan."

"I thought I was your daughter."

"You _are _my daughter, but you're a princess, too! Isn't that what all dads are supposed to think about their daughters?"

"I guess so." She paused. "Well, if I'm a princess, then you must be a king. Maybe even the best king?"

"Kiss up," Kaoru muttered as he danced past her.

"Shut up," she hissed, then was engulfed in a hug.

"You really think I'm a king?" Tamaki asked.

"Y-Yeah, you're a king," she said, a little surprised by the sudden hug. "King Tamaki."

He spun her around, then set her down and continued dancing. After a moment they ran into (not literally, thankfully) Hikaru and Haruhi. By that time the song was over.

"I'll trade you Haruhi for Aki," Hikaru said. And so Haruhi and Aki switched partners.

"Don't step on my feet, okay?" he said as they danced away.

"I'll try, though I've been doing pretty good so far, so I don't think you need to worry," Aki said. "So...you having fun?"

He shrugged. "It's alright. It'd be a lot more fun if we had a contest like last time."

"Last time?"

"The Christmas dance." She gave him a blank stare. He sighed, then went on to tell her about the Christmas dance where Haruhi was put in a dress (now she knew what Tamaki had been talking about), her first kiss with a girl, and how they helped two people get together.

"Okay, I got it," she said. "And you guys had points and a kissing contest. That would have been pretty nice for this dance, I think."

"Oh?" Hikaru grinned and raised his eyebrows. "Is there someone you want to kiss?"

"No. Shut up."

"I won't tell."

"I don't even like anyone here enough to want to kiss them."

"Mhm."

"How about you, huh?" He shook his head. "Oh really?"

"Yes, really."

"I'm _sure_."

For most of the rest of the dance they had a playful argument over whether or not the other liked someone at the school, then just casual chit-chat until a girl came up and asked to dance with him. With that they were done dancing with each other, and for to moment Aki was just done dancing.

_Didn't even step on anyone's feet_, she though triumphantly. _Well, except for Kaoru, but it's more like I tripped._

She looked around for something to do. She spotted Rei and Emiko, but they were both dancing with someone. All the hosts were dancing, too. That was pretty much all she had for close friends, and she didn't want to dance with just any guy. She thought for a moment. Maybe she could go see how Keiji's doing? Or, see what he's doing. Maybe she could get him to play a fast song.

So, Aki headed up the stairs. She spotted Keiji slumped on a chair, staring at his laptop which was set on a coffee table. He wasn't dressed up or anything, he just had on a grey hoodie, jeans, and sneakers.

Aki walked up to him and said, "Hello." He didn't answer. She then noticed that he had big headphones on, so she tapped him.

Keiji jumped and looked over at her with wide eyes (he had pretty greenish-brown eyes). He stood up and his headphones were yanked off of his head, making his glasses look crooked and the hair around his ears stick out.

"I'm s-s-sorry!" he said, quickly bowing.

"Huh? Hey, no need to bow to me," Aki said. Keiji stood up and readjusted his thick glasses.

"Yo-you're from the ho-host club, a-aren't you?" he asked, looking her up and down. "I s-saw y-you earlier." Then he bowed again. "M-My name is Kei-Kei-K-K-K-Ke..." He let out a frustrated sigh and was quiet for a moment. "I'm K-Keiji Hig-ga."

"Er, are you alright?" Aki asked. He stood up and nodded.

"I'm f-fine, I just have a st-st-stu-stutter. I've ha-had it since a was li-l-little."

"Oh." This was the first time she'd met anyone who stuttered like that.

"Y-Yeah. It's usually not t-too b-b-ba-bad, but it somet-times gets worse ar-round g-g-girls...especially p-pretty gi-girls..."

Aki hesitated, then smiled and laughed a bit. "You trying to make a move on me, huh, Higa-senpai?"

Keiji shook his head and blushed. "N-n-n-no. I'm sorry if that m-m-made you uncom-com-co-un...uncomfortable."

"No, it's fine. I'm Aki Fukuda, by the way."

He nodded. "It's ni-ice to m-meet you, Miss F-F-Fukud-da. Um...I d-don't mean to be ru-rude, but wha-wh-what are you doing up here? Shouldn't you b-b-be dancing with so-some-someone?"

"Nah. I've been dancing a lot so I'm just taking a break. I also wanted to see if you could play some faster music? You know, dance music instead of slow classical music? Not like it's bad, but it gets boring, y'know?"

He nodded and turned to his laptop. "D-Don't worry, I have a couple f-fa-faster songs coming up in a s-second. Ootori-s-sama already m-made sure I had someth-thing fast to p-p-play, and the Hitach-chiins already asked for f-faster songs, as well as a coup-ple other people."

"Oh, okay...Um, you aren't going to dance?"

"No. I'm n-not even d-dr-dressed to dance, and I didn't wa-w-want to dance in the f-f-f-first place. I'm only h-here because O-O-Oot-t-to-toro – Ootori! Ootori-sama!" Aki slapped a hand over her mouth to cover up a smile.

"Ootoro-sama," she snickered, turning away for a moment. She wasn't trying to be rude to Keiji or anything, but that was funny. She couldn't stop imagining Kyoya dressed up as a piece of sushi now.

"P-P-Pl-lease do-on't tell O-Ootori-sama!" Keiji said, pressing his palms together. "I do-don't want him to b-be mad a-a-at me!"

"I'm not gonna tell him," Aki said, turning back to Keiji. "Don't worry. And if it does slip out, I'm not gonna tell him you're the one that originally came up with the name."

"P-P-Pr-Promise?"

"Promise."

Keiji let out a small sigh and seemed to relax a little. "An-nyway, I'm only here bec-c-cause _Ootori_-sama asked me to h-handle the mu-mu-m-mus-s...music."

"So I'm guessing if he hadn't asked, you wouldn't be here?"

He shook his head. "N-No, I wouldn't. Alth-though, Hisao might have ma-m-made me come anyway."

"Your older brother?"

"Yeah. Ho-how'd you know?"

"Honey-senpai mentioned him. He's the one who suggested that you handle the music."

"Oh..."

"You think Aki-chan's up here?" She could hear someone coming up the staircase, and they sounded like Rei.

"I'm sure I saw her come up here." That was Emiko.

In an instant the two were standing at the top of the stairs. Emiko grinned at Aki. She was dressed in a short sleeve-less dress that was white at the top and sparkled when she moved and the bottom was made of thin pink fabric the puffed out a bit, and her shoes were white flats. Her hair was pulling into a bun, although a couple curled strands hung loose. Rei had on a floor-length, strapless, pale-pink dress that looked a little similar to Aki's, although the skirt was completely straight and the ribbon was red and tied in the back. Aki couldn't see her shoes, but she guessed they were heels by the way she was clicking up the stairs. She had on a white headband that held her hair away from her face, and it all rested in front of her shoulders.

"Hiya, Aki-chan!" Rei said.

"Hi, Aki-chan!" Emiko said. Then she noticed Keiji. "Hello, Higa-senpai!"

"Oh! Hi, Higa-senpai!"

Keiji let out a sound like a mix between "hello" and an embarrassed whimper before turning to his laptop.

"Aki-chan, c'mon," Rei said, grabbing Aki's hand. "We're going to dance together."

"Okay, then. See you, Higa-senpai," Aki called. He let out a "good-bye"/whimper.

"Bye, Higa-senpai!" Rei and Emiko said before they all went back downstairs and started dancing together.

**A/N: Thanks for reading this chapter! I hope Keiji's speech was alright. I've never done a character who's got a natural stutter before, so I hope I'm writing it decently enough. Sorry if it's annoying, but I just thought it would be a cool idea and a nice challenge. And Keiji will be a reoccurring character, I think. I know he'll show up in another chapter for sure, I'm just not sure about any more other than being mentioned. Also, if anyone actually noticed and is wondering why I don't use -san (I use Mr. or Miss or Mrs.) but I use -sama, it's because -san is easy to translate and it's not super formal, unlike -sama. If I used Mr., Miss, or Mrs. for -sama, you wouldn't know if it's very respectful or not, would you?**

**Anyway, thanks again for reading, and thanks a bunch to everyone who reviews, favorited, followed, etc.**


	10. Chapter 9

"Aki-chi!" Aki nearly fell down when she was attacked with a hug. She stumbled back and struggled to keep her balance, but eventually managed it.

"Kasumi, be careful," Aki grumbled while her best fried snuggled into her chest.

"Aki, I wish you could have gone to the dance with me! It was fun!" Kasumi said, her voice muffled by Aki's chest.

"Well, I had another dance to go to."

"I know, I know. How'd that go, by the way?"

"Fine, now get your face out of my chest."

Kasumi stepped back and smiled up at Aki.

"Better?" she asked.

"Better," Aki said with a nod.

Kasumi was a tiny thing compared to Aki, and probably every other girl in their neighborhood. While Aki was about five feet and seven inches, Kasumi was four feet and eleven inches. What she lacked in height she made up in energy, and looks. She was adorable even without make-up. She had big brown eyes (really helped out when she was doing puppy dog eyes), nearly white skin, a button nose, a cute round face (almost like a baby's), and her eyebrows were a nice in-between of thick and thin. Her long hair was naturally dark brown, but she'd had it dyed to it was a light chestnut color, and it was naturally straight but she often curled the ends so they made big, thick curls. She had a childish look, but not as much as Honey, and there was a hint of maturity under all the cute. But it was pretty well masked by how cute she was, and she wanted it to be that way.

"You didn't go home and change, huh?" Aki asked, looking at Kasumi's outfit. She was wearing a short pink dress with white hearts dotting the skirt, a pink headband, white flats, and a bunch of jewelery that had a heart somewhere on it.

Kasumi shook her head, making her extra curly curls bounce. "Nope. I mean, I went home, but only to get my things. Mom had them ready for me." She gestured to the duffel bag across her shoulder and the plastic bags in her hand. The plastic bags looked like they were being weighed down by an excessive amount of sweets.

"That's a lot..." Aki muttered, peering into the bags.

"Well, we're going to drown ourselves in sweet sorrow, aren't we?" Kasumi replied with a laugh. "By the way, where's Michiko? She's joining us, right?"

"No actually. Auntie has a date." Lucky.

"What? Really?! With who?"

"Jin." Michiko appeared behind Aki, finishing putting on her last earring. She was wearing a simple floor-length red dress that hugged her figure and had red lipstick, black eyeliner, and thick black mascara on. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun.

"Really?! You _finally _said yes?"

"Yes, I finally said yes."

"And about time, too," Aki commented. "That crazy guy's been going after you for _three years!_"

"I know, I know, he kept going on about that when I said yes," Michiko said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I think it's only been two."

"The first time he asked you was in January. It's been three, Auntie."

"But he had some girlfriends during that time, right?" Kasumi said. "Didn't he have a girlfriend last year?"

"Well, he had one in the first year I think to make me jealous – I'm not joking, either, or making it seem like it's all centered around me," she added when Aki raised her eyebrows. "I'm pretty sure that's what he told me after they ended it...it was her choice, by the way, and he actually really liked her in the end. Then he had another girlfriend for a week, then a steady girlfriend last year for a few months. That's all I can remember, though."

"He's finally got his dream girl, huh?" Kasumi said.

"I don't know if I'm his dream girl..."

Aki rolled her eyes. "Auntie, he's been asking you out for three years. I think you're his dream girl."

"I think that's exaggerating."

At that moment the doorbell rang. Kasumi turned and opened it, revealing Jin who was wearing a tuxedo. Aki had to hide a smile. He looked pretty silly and strange compared to his normal appearance. He'd even tamed his hair.

"Jin!" Kasumi exclaimed.

"Kasu-chan!" Jin said, grinning at the girl. He reached out a hand and rubbed her head. "Nice to see you."

"Hey! I spent a lot of time doing my hair!" Kasumi said, pushing his hand away and smoothing out her hair.

"You only curled the ends," Aki pointed out. "And the strand of hair in front of your face."

"But I spent time brushing back my hair and making it look perfect."

"Michiko!" Jin said, spotting the woman. He walked up to her and bowed a little, holding out a vibrant red rose. "Got this for you. A beauty for a beauty, although you're much, much more beautiful than this rose."

"I would hope so," Michiko said with a small laugh. Jin straightened up and she took the rose, then kissed his cheek. "Thanks, Jin. I'm gonna go put this in a vase before I forget, alright?"

"Alright." He and the teenagers watched Michiko leave, then turned to each other. Jin punched the air while the girls gave him thumbs up.

"Heck yeah! Already got a kiss!" he said.

"Good job," Aki said.

"A kiss this early!" Kasumi said, clapping her hands and smiling. "That's good, really good!"

"But it's not like a kiss on the lips," Aki added. Kasumi stopped clapping and shook her head.

"Nope, not at all like that."

"Psh, how would you two know? You haven't even had your first kisses yet," Jin said, rolling his eyes.

Kasumi frowned and stuck her tongue out at him. "Nyeh!"

"I might not have had a real kiss yet, but I'm sure it's not like kisses on the cheek," Aki said.

Michiko came back a second later and Jin quickly held his arm out to her. "Shall we?"

"We shall," she said, accepting his arm. "Tomi-chan, Kasu-chan, you two be good, alright? Don't burn the house down, don't do or look at anything inappropriate, don't drink any alcohol or do drugs, and don't do other things a responsible guardian would tell you not to do, okay?"

"Got it," the girls chorused. "Bye! Have fun on your date!"

"Bye!" Jin and Michiko said before walking out of the house.

"Did you know that you look more radiant than the sun?" Jin said.

"Oh, don't bring that one up again," Michiko muttered.

"That deserves a kiss!" Aki called. Her aunt laughed and shook her head.

"It does!" Kasumi agreed.

"Goodbye, you two!"

"I think it deserves a kiss," Jin muttered.

Aki smiled at the two, then pulled Kasumi inside and closed the door, locking it. "Okay, you go get changed and I'll turn on the TV. Oh, TV or movie? Or cartoon?"

"I wanna watch..._I Give My First Love to You_."

"Sure thing, Kasu." She wanted to start off with a sad movie? Okay, then...

"Yay! Thanks, Aki-chi!" With that Kasumi skipped off to Aki's room to change.

Aki stepped into the living room and grabbed her book full of dvds. She flipped a couple pages until she finally found the disk, then popped it into the dvd player.

"Hurry up, Kasumi!" she called, sitting with her back against the couch.

"Hold on, hold on!" There was a long silence. Finally she heard Kasumi walking down the hallway, probably swinging the plastic bags. She appeared in the living room, wearing a short white nightgown and fuzzy pink pants with white polka dots on them. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, tied with a white ribbon. She had wiped off all her make-up, too.

Kasumi sat down next to Aki and immediately dumped out the contents of the plastic bags. It was like a waterfall of sweets.

"We're going to get cavities after tonight," Aki said.

"That's the plan, isn't it?"

"I guess so."

Aki played the movie, but they quickly stopped paying attention and focused more on the sweets and talking about the dances.

"I danced with a lot of guys," Kasumi said after finishing off her truffle. "Nobuo mostly 'cause he 'wanted to make the other guys jealous' or something. I wish he wouldn't do that, though. I'm going to end up single forever if he keeps that up."

"Maybe he likes you, Kasu," Aki said, popping a grape hi-chew into her mouth.

"Don't start that up again! Anyway, he's got a boyfriend as you know."

"He said they aren't official."

"They might as well be. Whenever he wasn't dancing with me he was dancing with that guy."

"Ooh, 'that guy'. Someone sounds jealous."

"I'm not jealous! Even if I am, it's only because Nobu has a boyfriend and I don't," she said with a pout on her face. "It's no fair. Am I not cute enough? Or maybe I'm too cute?"

"You're very cute, Kasumi. If anything, you'd be too cute."

"Maybe boys just don't like me..."

"Of course they do, idiot."

"Then how come they don't ask me out, huh? I'm not good enough, right? Oh, I'll never get a boyfriend! I'll be single forever! An old, single lady. I'll become a shut-in!"

Aki stuffed a small chocolate cake into Kasumi's mouth. "Shut up, Kasumi. Of course you're going to get a boyfriend. You're too cute to not have one. I just think all the guys are nervous. And maybe you should try dating Nobuo like I've been telling you to."

"But he's got a boyfriend!"

"Well not _now _of course."

"And, anyway, he's...Nobuo."

"He's cute."

"Yeah, but he's my childhood friend."

"Still."

"Anyway, he's never made an attempt to date me, so why should I make an attempt to date him? The guy's supposed to make the first move, aren't they?...Let's not talk about me. How about you? What was the dance like?"

"They had a ballroom."

"What?!"

"Yeah, no gym, though I'm sure it wouldn't be too much different if it were held in the gym."

"Wow! I've never heard of a school having a ballroom."

"I don't think they're supposed to."

"Was it big?"

"Duh."

"How big?"

"Real big."

Kasumi rolled her eyes. "Nevermind. Did you dance with all the guys?"

"No, of course not. There are too many of them, and some of them didn't even want to dance."

"Wha – no, that's not what I meant! I was talking about those host club guys! Did you dance with them?"

"Oh, yeah, all of them."

"Really? What was it like? Was it romantic?"

"No, of course not. I'm pretty sure none of us like each other in that sense."

"Aw, boo. Well, was it fun at least?"

"Yeah, I guess so. I pretty much just swung Honey-senpai around. Kyoya-senpai dipped me one time –" Cue a gasp from Kasumi. "And Mori-senpai let me stand on his feet while he pretty much danced for both of us –" Gasp. "Tamaki-senpai called me a princess –" Gasp! "Hikaru and I argued – _playfully_ argued – and me and Kaoru made funny faces at each other."

"Cute!" Kasumi squealed. "You're all so cute together! I don't know who to ship!"

Aki sighed. Kasumi was a lot like Michiko in a way. "How about you don't ship me with anyone?"

"No way. You ship me with Nobuo, so I get to ship you with one of the hosts."

"What if I don't even like any of them like that? Because I don't."

"I don't even like Nobuo romantically."

Aki gave another sigh and dropped the subject. Kasumi was going to ship her with someone anyways, whether she wanted her to or not.

"Oh, oh, Aki, do you have any pictures?" Kasumi asked, turning to her.

"Yeah, actually. On my phone, wherever that is." Aki felt around on the floor for her phone, then turned to the couch for it. She eventually found it between the seat cushions.

"Okay, here," she said, going to the picture app. She pressed on the first picture of the day which was of her in the short dress.

"That dress is so cute! I wish I could wear it! It's better than the dress I was wearing today, that's for sure."

Aki shook her head. "No way, your dress looked cute. And it looked a lot more comfortable than mine was."

"It's still really cute, though."

"Yeah, it's still really cute."

She flipped through two more pictures of the dress for the host club, then got to the dress for the dance.

"Ooh, that's pretty," Kasumi said, leaning towards the phone. Aki pushed her head back.

"Don't lean in too far, you'll screw up your eyes," she muttered.

"My eyes are fine! And glasses are cute."

"Blurry vision isn't."

"Oh, how would you know? Your vision's fine."

"I just know."

"Okay, back to the dress! That's really pretty. I want it.".

"Then go commission Mrs. Hitachiin for it, but you probably won't be able to afford it."

"I know..."

"Where would you even wear it to?"

"Dances, of course."

"Well, yeah, but how many dances can you go to?"

"Not a lot." Kasumi stuck her tongue out and blew a raspberry. "I guess I can't ever get it. It's too expensive and I have no good reasons to wear it to anything."

"It's alright," Aki said, patting her friend's back. "You have a bunch more dresses that are cuter than this one, and you can wear them pretty much anywhere. And I'm sure that combined they're worth more than this dress."

"I doubt it. None of them were made by Yuzuha Hitachiin."

"I doubt that they aren't more than Mrs. Hitachiin's dress." Aki closed her phone and tossed it back on the couch. "Okay, no more talk of dresses or shipping or dances! Let's focus on the movie before we miss our chance to cry at all the sad parts."

Kasumi grinned and nodded. "Alright!"

So they shut up and watched the movie. In no time Kasumi was already crying. It took Aki a while, but she ended up crying anyway, and by the end of the movie they were both crying buckets of tears and the knees of Aki's pants were stained with tears.

"Poor Takuma!" Kasumi blubbered. "Poor Mayu! Why couldn't they have a happy ending?"

Aki rubbed Kasumi's back. "Calm down Kasu," she said, wiping her own eyes.

Kasumi didn't listen or continued to go on about the movie, but she was stuttering and mumbling so much that Aki couldn't even make out what she was trying to say. Eventually, after Aki had put a box of tissues in front of her, Kasumi calmed down.

"You always cry more than you should during these movies," Aki said with a sigh, cleaning up Kasumi's face.

"More than I should? I think I cry a good amount!" Kasumi retorted. "More than I should would be like crying so much that I can't breathe! _That's _too much for a movie."

"Even still...Let's watch something different. Something happier."

"Love For Beginners?"

"Fine." To be honest, she was tired of love already (she'd heard enough about it during her time with the hosts today), but what was one more movie?

Aki got up and replaced the first disk with the second, then left to the kitchen. "I'm making popcorn!" she called to Kasumi as she pulled out a bag. "Want some, Kasu?"

"No thanks. There are still a lot of sweets."

"Okay, but don't go asking for my popcorn."

She stuck the bag in the microwave and waited while the kernels popped. After it was ready she put it all in a bowl and salted it more than a normal person would, then went back to the living room. Kasumi pressed play on the remote.

The rest of the night was spent pretty much the same. They watched an animated movie, then switched to variety shows, ate snacks, Aki comforted Kasumi when she'd cry over a movie or go on about how she hated being single, and talk. It was fun to do this since they hadn't in a while. Lately they hadn't hung out much, and Aki had to skip out on running on the weekends to finish up homework. Sometimes the damn club was exhausting so she'd end up falling asleep when she got home and putting off her homework until the weekend, and then she was so tired of social interaction that she didn't want to be around anyone during her breaks. This time it was different. She'd finished all her homework, made sure she had nothing to do over the weekend, and now it was all dedicated to her best friend.

Eventually the girls got tired, but they tried their best to stay up. Whoever fell asleep first got a mustache drawn on their face, that was the rule they'd decided on when they were kids. Aki was determined to fall asleep after drawing a mustache on Kasumi's face, but they both ended up falling asleep around the same time. When Michiko returned home she found Kasumi sleeping peacefully on one of the couches and Aki sleeping with her head in the popcorn bowl.


	11. Chapter 10

A month had passed since Valentines Day. Aki was glad that the hype with all the love was over. Even after the holiday it seemed like there was love in the air, and it just made her stomach hurt. Michiko would say that she was just bitter because she didn't have a boyfriend so she didn't know how great love was. Aki would have replied with a, "You don't know how great love is either. You're single", but Michiko _was _her guardian and she _could_ ground Aki over that, so she'd rather not take a chance. She wasn't even sure if the single part was right, either. True, Michiko had gone on a date with Jin, but she'd only gone on one date and they hadn't even done any lovey-dovey stuff (though Michiko did say that she fed Jin during lunch, but Aki was pretty sure they were only joking around with each other), so that didn't mean that they were a couple, right?

Aki shrugged off the thought as she started to walk away from her house. It wasn't too big a deal.

"Good morning, Suzu-chan!" She glanced to her side and waved at Nobuo who was making his way to Tomoko High.

"Good morning, Nobuo-kun!" she said.

They smiled at each other before turning and continuing on their way. Aki pulled out her iPod and scrolled through her songs. What to listen to, what to listen to...?

Finally she decided on "Colorful Love" by Exile Atsushi. It may have been about love, but it was a pretty fun, upbeat song. She hummed to the lyrics once the song started and her pace switched to match the beat of the song. She couldn't get enough of it when it was over, so she just put it on repeat.

"_It's not just fantasy,_" she sung in English, under her breath. She nearly skipped off of the train. "_What can this truly be...And I think it is destiny..._"

At that moment her headphones were pulled out of her ears. She turned around to glare at whoever did it. Not only did that hurt _and _scare her, but they interrupted the song!

"Dammit, Jin-ho," she grumbled. He just smiled at her. "What do you want?"

"Hey, that's no way to talk to an adult," he said, poking out his tongue.

"Can I help you?"

"Better. And, yes, you can. When you get home today, can you ask Michiko about going on a date with me on the fourteenth?"

She furrowed her brow. "Um, you work with her, dummy. Why don't you ask her there?"

"I'm going out of town for a while today, so I won't be at work."

"Why not send her a text then? Or, better yet, _call her_."

"My phone's dead. Plus, that's not romantic."

"Neither is having her niece ask her."

"It's better than a text."

"Okay, why not a letter?"

"A letter?"

"Yeah. Auntie loves love letters."

"But this is an asking-out-on-a-date letter, not a love letter."

"Then make it a love letter."

"I don't have time to write a letter, Tomi-chan. I'm leaving in a while, and I have to make sure I have everything ready."

"Still, even a text or a rushed letter or _a call _is better than me being your messenger."

"Owl. You're my owl."

"What?"

"Nothing, sorry. Just a Harry Potter reference."

"Why don't you just call her when your phone is charged?"

"Aha, well, I'm not exactly staying at a place that has electricity."

"What?"

"I'm going camping for almost the whole week."

Aki frowned up at him. "What the hell? Why are you going camping at the most random of times? And for so long?"

"It's a way of sucking up to Big Boss," he said, rubbing his neck. "I'm trying to get him off my ass about a recent screw up...anyway, can you please ask Michiko? And tell her why I'm not calling her or asking her in person or over a text or letter?"

Aki sighed and nodded. "Fine, I'll tell her."

"Thank you!"

"Next time have your phone charged. Or, better yet, tell her the day before you're going on a trip."

"I will, promise. Thanks again, Aki-chan!" He pulled her into a bear hug before letting go, putting her ear buds back in her ears, and hurrying off.

Aki huffed and started back towards Ouran. Really, why didn't he just change his phone? How long does he have before he has to leave, anyway? He could have probably gone to a cafe and charged it instead of asking her to ask Michiko. And the date of the date was a little funny (to her, anyway). It just so happened to be White Day. He probably knew that he wanted the next date to be on White Day for a long time. Why didn't he just ask Michiko at work before today?

Whatever. She didn't need to worry about that now. Just get to school, work at the club, then get home and tell Michiko. She only needed to worry about it then.

The rest of the walk was just fine, thankfully. No interruptions, and she got to finish the song. Wonderful. The class was pretty calm when she entered, too, and Hikaru didn't really bother her during class since his attention was mostly on Kaoru and Haruhi. Fine with her, it just meant she could focus more on her classes. No one talked to her much, either, though she caught Rei and Emiko's eyes a few times and smiled or made faces at them.

Aside from socially, academically the school day was going pretty good. She'd been able to take lots of neat notes (no doodles or anything!), actually pay attention in some of the more boring classes, and she had a test in a couple classes, too, but she was certain that she'd aced those. She did study hard.

Lunch was also great. She sat with Rei and Emiko, ate wonderfully cooked chicken (she went back for seconds just for the chicken and its sweet sauce), and shared some good jokes with the girls. By the time lunch was over her stomach hurt from laughing so much.

No, wait...

Her stomach didn't hurt because she was laughing.

And what the hell did she just feel?

"I need to go to the bathroom," Aki said to her friends. They nodded.

"We'll tell Mr. Watanabe in case you're not back," Emiko said.

"Don't take to long talking to your friend, okay?" Rei added.

"Hey, that was a one time thing," Aki said. Rei rolled her eyes.

"What a liar. We caught you, what, seven times? Emiko?"

"Nine, actually," Emiko said. Aki sighed.

"Anyway, I'm not going to talk to Kasumi. I'll be right out."

"Okay. See you back in class," Emiko said, pulling Rei away.

"See you, Aki-chan!"

"Bye."

Aki ran into the bathroom right after that. "Please don't tell me...not today...not on such a perfect day!" she said when she rushed into a stall.

Sadly for her, what she'd hoped to not come true came true. Mother Nature had reared her ugly head and decided that today, a week earlier than planned, Aki would start her period.

"Damn it," she hissed, searching through her bag for a spare pad. "Today of all days...On a school day!"

_Why _did it have to happen on a school day? Why couldn't it happen at home where she could sleep off the cramps (that always decided to show up the day her time started or the day after. The actual period was more like a warning for the cramps than the cramps were for the period!) and take a pill? Where she didn't have to _work_! Oh, man, did Kyoya let off Haruhi for this? Was he going to let her off? She sure hoped so. She didn't want to be stuck in the club while this was going on. She tended to get emotional during her period, too...that would be embarrassing, just breaking down in front of everyone. She hoped that wouldn't happen! Ugh, and the cramps...she hoped they would be kind to her today. Spare her until she got home.

Needless to say, they didn't. When she got back to class she thought she was alright. She didn't even feel anything. But the more the day progressed, the more she felt the pain. It still wasn't too bad by the time school ended, but she was moving around a lot and sitting awkwardly in her chair to subdue the pain.

The bell for the end of the day rang, and she wanted nothing more than to go home, but the twins pulled her and Haruhi along with them to the club room. Maybe she could skip out...then again, skipping out a day wouldn't help her debt. And, the club wasn't _that _long. She could tough it out until the end...probably...hopefully.

The good thing about the club today was that there was no theme, so everything was calm. The bad thing was that she couldn't sit down because the hosts were constantly calling her over, either for snack refills or to mess with her. Her cramps also got worse during the club until she would bend over in the snack room with her hand pressed against the area where it hurt most.

"C'mon, keep going," she muttered to herself. "Only, what, fifty minutes left? You can make it." But even she couldn't fool herself. Fifty minutes of pain? Not likely. She couldn't stand it for five minutes. She needed to sit down or lie down, not stand and walk around. It hurt! She couldn't do this for fifty minutes...

Oh, great, now her eyes were starting to sting. No, she wouldn't cry! Not during the club, not out in public, and not over something so stupid.

Aki straightened up and got the cookies for Kyoya's table, then hurried out and replaced his dish. She started to turn back to the room to get the tea (which she had forgotten in there), but almost halfway there she stopped to lean against a table and press her arm to her stomach.

"Damn Mother Nature," she hissed under her breath before pushing herself away from the table and hurrying into the snack room.

It was there that she slammed her plate down on the counter. She was angry now, and in her mind she was swearing up a storm, all directed at her period. It changed to swearing about Mother Nature, then whoever decided to make girls get periods in the first place, then at the extra X chromosome for making her a girl in the first place. Why couldn't she be a guy?

Eventually her anger spiraled into a mini-breakdown, but she didn't know what for. Nothing important or tear-worthy, probably. But she couldn't help it. The tears just started rolling down her cheeks. At least she wasn't wailing. This she could handle.

Suddenly there was a hand on her shoulder that made her jump. She quickly wiped the tears off of her cheeks and glanced back. It was Kyoya.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "The way you bent over before made it look like you were in pain."

"Oh, no, I'm fine," she said with a small smile. "It was nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing, and your tears don't help to support your claim."

"It's just..." She hesitated. Ugh, she hated mentioning this to a guy. It felt so weird. "Girl problems. I'm having girl problems, you know? And it hurts..." Her cheeks turned bright red.

He nodded. He, thankfully, didn't seem embarrassed over what she'd said. "Well, we can't have you working like this. You'll be bending over every minute or so and crying in front of everyone. Come on, I'm taking you to the nurse."

"I can go on my own."

"I think if I were to let you do that then I'd find you crying in the hallway. Let's go."

He pressed his hand against her back and lead her out of the room. Just him actually seeming to care made her feel even more like crying, and she had to hide her face when they stepped out of the room so no one would see her tears.

A stream of swears shot through her head, mostly being "fuck" and "damn it". This was so embarrassing! Crying _and _having told Kyoya why she was. She could have just lied and said she was starving! That would have been better! Just the amount of embarrassment made her cry even more. Thank goodness she kept it silent, though. If she started crying out loud, she's just _die_.

"You should have told me earlier," Kyoya said while they walked. "You could have gone home."

"But...Going home wouldn't help my debt."

"True, but this doesn't help it, either."

"Wait, you aren't saying that I'm not going to get today's deduction, are you?!"

"No, no, you'll get it, just not as much as usual."

"Damn it..."

They were getting closer to the infirmary. Kyoya leaned down and said, "Don't come back to the club room. You're off today."

"But what's fifty minutes? I can do it," she said, wiping her eyes. She was starting to calm down now, but her cheeks were still red. She hoped he would leave soon so she didn't have to keep feeling embarrassed.

"No. You're off today," he repeated in a firmer tone. She wanted to argue, but he wasn't one to change his mind when it was set. And, anyway, she did want to go home.

"Fine."

They stepped into the infirmary and he called out for Ms. Sato. She appeared a moment later.

"What happened? Did you break something again?" she asked, looking at Aki.

"Not this time," Kyoya said, directing Aki to one of the beds.

"I'm cramping up really bad," Aki said. Ms. Sato frowned.

"Ooh. Okay, I got it," she said. "Just sit tight, Miss Fukuda, I'll be back."

Aki nodded and the nurse left to go find pills. Kyoya sat down on a chair and crossed his legs.

"What are you doing?" she asked, laying on the bed. She let out a small groan and curled into a ball. "Aren't your clients going to miss you?"

"Of course. I'm just going to make sure you don't go back after this. Also, you're going to miss the meeting today, although it's nothing too special."

"Another – ow – theme day?"

"Sort of. It's about White day, since it's this week."

"What, are we wearing white clothing?"

"Correct."

"What, is that all? Not much of a meeting," she said, turning on her other side.

"It's a mini-meeting."

"Isn't there more?" She turned over again.

"Not much. The snacks will be white-chocolate based or have white incorporated in it, such as white icing on a cookie, and the tea will be white tea."

"Don't you think you're being a little excessive with the white?"

"It was Tamaki's idea."

"Miss Fukuda," Ms. Sato said, returning with a pill and a cup of water. Aki sat up and took them in her hands, then popped the pill into her mouth and bit it in half after a moment (she had problems with swallowing it whole). She nearly gagged, but instead she quickly chugged down the water.

"I hate pills," she muttered.

"So do I, hun," Ms. Sato said, taking the cup. "Just wait a moment, it'll take effect soon."

"I'll go get your bag," Kyoya said. He got up and left.

Ms. Sato came back and kept Aki company for a bit. She gave Aki some tips for how to deal with cramps which she was pretty thankful for. Hopefully they'd be able to help her out in the future.

Their conversation was cut short when Rei and Emiko burst through the door with her bag.

"Are you alright, Aki-chan?" Rei asked, running up to Aki.

"Rei, calm down," Emiko sighed.

"I'm fine," Aki said. "I just had some bad cramps, but Ms. Sato gave me a pill so I'm fine now."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm _fine_. What are you guy doing here anyway?"

"Kyoya-senpai told us to come here and take you home," Emiko explained. Aki let out a small groan.

"I can get home on my own."

"He just wanted us to make sure you got there right away."

"Let's go, Aki-chan!" Rei grabbed Aki's hand and pulled her off of the bed. "We can get ice cream on the way there. That makes me feel better when I've got cramps."

Ms. Sato chuckled. Aki had almost forgotten about her. "This takes me back."

_She sounds old, _Aki thought.

"Come on!" Rei said, pulling Aki to the door.

"Thanks, Ms. Sato!" Aki called. The nurse nodded.

"It was no problem, hun. Good bye!"

The girls left the infirmary. Rei kept pulling Aki around the school and didn't stop until they were outside and Aki pointed out that she had no idea where Aki's house even was.

"Oh, yeah." Emiko chuckled, causing Rei to blush a light pink. "Well, go on and take us there, Aki!"

Part of her didn't want to. She was a little worried about what they'd think when they realized that she lived in a middle-class neighborhood. They'd be confused, obviously, and she expected questions about why she was rich but lived in a lower-class neighborhood. She hoped they wouldn't think any less of her (though they sure didn't seem like the type of people to think less of anyone). They were her only good friends outside of the host club at the school, and most of her didn't want to be friends with the hosts anyway. Oh well. She'd just have to hope they wouldn't like her any less.

Oh, what was she thinking? They were bad friends if they liked her any less. Terrible friends. Why should they care about where she lived, really? If they were true friends, they wouldn't mind it.

"Let's go, then," she said.

**A/N: I don't know if I mentioned it, but here:**

**White Day: White Day is on March 14th. Whereas on Valentine's Day girls give guys chocolates, on White Day guys give girls chocolates or other gifts. There's a saying that what the guys give girls should cost three times what the girls gave the guys.**


	12. Chapter 11

The week passed by amazingly fast. When she got home and explained things to Rei and Emiko, they were very accepting, albeit still very confused why she would choose to live where she was. That evening she told Michiko what Jin said. Michiko went off mumbling about him charging his phone and how un-romatic it was having her niece ask for him. Aki also had to turn off her phone eventually because soon after club hours were over Tamaki started blowing it up with texts and phone calls to make sure she was okay.

The day after that the twins kept bugging her about what had happened. They teased her about going to make out with Kyoya for some odd reason (Rei eventually teased her about that too at lunch even though she knew fully well why they'd left), and her blush didn't help her case in saying that she hadn't. When they got to the host club Tamaki nearly drowned her in gingersnaps and it took a lot of convincing for him to stop asking her if she felt alright or if she needed a pill or if she wanted to lay down. The days after that were calm, though, other than Tamaki checking up on her every time he saw her.

Today was Friday, meaning it was White Day. Aki expected to get her "courtesy gift" when she got to class, but not a thing was given to her. She didn't see anything on the other girls' desks either, so at least she wasn't the only one.

"Nothing?" she said to Hikaru. "I told you to get me something today."

"We've got something. You'll get it during the club so don't worry your cute little head over it, alright, Puppy?" Hikaru grinned and rubbed her head, sliding her beanie around.

"Cut it out," she said, swatting his hand away and fixing her hat.

Well, that sucked. She had been craving chocolate since she'd woken up (assuming that was what they were giving her, anyway), but now she had to wait until after school. Great. She was not going to be happy today. See, she was the type of person where when she craved a food she wanted it then and there. She hated waiting a long time for food.

The rest of the day felt longer than usual, and her mind was stuck on the chocolate she hoped she would get. The only time is was off of her mind was during lunch where she had a couple brownies and Haruhi gave her white chocolate in return for the chocolate she got on Valentine's Day, but that was all. Ugh, all she wanted was her courtesy chocolate! Why did they have to wait until the club to actually give it to her?

The bell finally rang for the end of school. Aki already had her things packed up, and after the class bowed and said "Goodbye" to Mr. Watanabe, she turned to Hikaru and Kaoru. Hikaru already had his arm looped through Haruhi's, so Kaoru looped his through Aki's, and the twins linked their free arms with each other.

"Let's go!" they said, pulling the girls out of the room.

When they got to the club room Tamaki went up to Aki to make sure she was okay yet _again_, but she quickly cut across him, saying that her week was over and she was just fine. Then Kyoya told her and Haruhi to go and get dressed, so the girls retreated into the dressing room.

Haruhi's outfit was like the one she'd worn for the Valentine's dance. The jacket, pants, shirt, and tie were all white while the vest and dress shoes were black. Aki only had a simple white sundress with a bow tied in the back and white flats. The two got dressed and, after joking around about how handsome and manly Haruhi looked, left the room. The others were dressed the same as Haruhi.

_Not the best since they've already been done, but what can you really do for White Day? _Aki thought.

She glanced around the room. Nothing much had changed other than the flower vases which seemed to have gained a large amount of flowers, most of them white. There was also a long table in the back of the room. In the middle was a white three-tier cake with black decorations and something written on it (probably "Happy White Day"), and on either side of it were bowls and plates filled with different types of sweets. There were also two chocolate fountains at the ends of the table with strawberries and marshmallows on plates circling the fountains.

"Hey." Aki walked up to the twins and put her hands on her hips. "Can I have my gift now?"

"No," Kaoru said. "You can have it after the club."

"What?! Why?"

"Because we like to tease you," Hikaru said, grinning. She shot them a glare.

"You guys suck."

The twins put on fake pouts. "Aw, don't you like us anymore?"

"Nope."

"Are you mad at us?"

"Yes." Well, not _mad_, really. Irritated was a better word, but she didn't think they really cared.

"You're mad over them not giving you chocolate?" Haruhi asked, walking over to the three. "That's silly."

"But you don't understand, Haruhi! I've been craving chocolate since I woke up!" Aki said. "And, yeah, I got some, but I've been wanting the chocolate _they're_ supposed to give me."

"Why don't you just go eat some of the chocolate over there?" Hikaru said, motioning to the bowls. He and Kaoru had dropped their pouts by now.

"I want my courtesy chocolate."

"But it's the same thing, isn't it?" Haruhi said. "Chocolate is chocolate."

"No. Courtesy chocolate...it's...well..." She frowned, trying to come up with the right way to say what she wanted to. "It's mine, I guess. It's for only me."

"That's sappy," Kaoru said.

"Shut up!"

"I hate to break this up, but it's almost time," Kyoya said, standing next to Aki. The first years all jumped, not having noticed him before.

_He could have given us a warning or something before scaring us_, Aki thought while he handed her a tray of sweets. It was like a sample tray, so she was only supposed to go around to the tables and give them samples of the sweets that were at the long table. The down side to that was that she'd constantly have to restock.

Aki went to go to her usual spot, but then Kaoru grabbed her and pulled her along with him and Hikaru.

"What gives?" she said.

"You're with us today. After all, White Day is all about girls," Kaoru said. "Can't leave our only girl out today."

"Um...Haruhi?"

"Um...she's considered a boy, remember?" Hikaru said, doing a bad imitation of her voice.

"Right."

The hosts got into their poses, which was pretty much the same as during Valentine's Day. The only differences were that Aki had replaced Haruhi who now stood next to Hikaru (who had his arm around her shoulders), and the roses were white. Aki glanced around at everyone, then held out her tray a little, wondering if she'd look stupid.

They stood completely still for a moment. Aki's arms started to feel a little heavy. She glanced at Kaoru, wondering if his arm was getting heavy, too.

Finally the door opened and they all said their usual greeting after a shower of rose petals fell down on the girls. Aki saw their faces brighten as they all stepped inside, and she could hear the usual murmurs about this person being cute and that person looking very handsome. She even heard a few along the lines of, "They even have Aki-chan with them!"

She felt Hikaru and Kaoru shift out of their poses so she finally put down her arms. While the hosts started moving to their sections, Aki stayed where she was and offered some of the sample sweets. Within a minute her whole tray was cleared out, so she had to refill it.

"Aki-chan!" Tamaki called in a sing-song voice, waving her over. She walked over and glanced at the girls. They all had small, decorative boxes in their hands. The base color was white with a swirling red design wrapping around the box and a cream colored ribbon tied around the box, ending in a bow. A few had already been opened, but others were still tied up.

"Need something?" Aki asked, taking her eyes away from the boxes and looking at Tamaki.

"Sit down," he said with a smile, patting the spot on the couch beside him.

"Uh..."

"It's alright, it's not like you'll get in trouble. C'mon."

She gave him a confused look, but sat down anyway. He took the tray from her and offered the sweets to his clients, throwing in some flirts here and there. Aki was a little ticked because that was her job, but it wasn't anything she'd get too mad over.

The tray was bare by the time Tamaki set it down. He turned his attention to Aki for a moment, telling her she looked adorable in the dress (she didn't get why, though. It looked like a plain sundress), hugging her, telling the clients that she was his daughter (they didn't seem to be fazed by that), and then asking if she got a lot of gifts. He seemed shocked when she said no.

"I only gave chocolates to you guys, the twins and Haruhi, but Haruhi was the only one who gave me anything back," she said with a slight shrug. He gasped as if they'd done something unbelievable and turned to a bag next to him. She didn't know what he was gasping for, though. He hadn't given her anything, either.

"Here, it's for you," he said, giving her a box. It looked like the one the other girls had gotten, although it was smaller.

"Thanks, Senpai." She shook it a little. It didn't exactly sound like chocolate, but then again she didn't even know what chocolate sounded like compared to other things.

That little exchange set his clients off. They were going on about how cute that was, but she didn't see that, either.

"You're so sweet, Tamaki-sama!" one girl said. He smiled and got close to her, bringing his hand under her chin so she was looking into his eyes.

"But not as sweet as you, my princess," he said. His clients were really riled up now.

"See ya, Senpai," Aki muttered, grabbing her tray and going to replace the sweets. She set the box in the middle since she had no pockets to put it in and she didn't want to open it just yet.

The next person that called her over was Kyoya. He also had her sit with him and his group, which she found strange. He got her involved in some conversations and made her show off the dress. She was getting ready to pick up her things and leave when he stopped her.

"Here," he said, placing a box on the tray alongside Tamaki's. They looked identical aside from the color. Instead of a red design, his was purple.

"Thanks," she said before going to refill her tray.

Next was Honey and Mori. She didn't even turn towards their table before Honey grabbed her arm and tugged her over to the table.

"Come and sit with us this time, Aki-chan!" he said, though she didn't think she had much of a choice. He put her in between him and Mori and put her tray on the table.

"Here," Mori said, giving her a slice of apple pie with whipped cream and cinnamon on top. She felt her stomach growl as if it knew what was in front of her.

Aki gobbled the apple pie up in almost no time. She didn't are if Kyoya cared or not anymore. She'd eaten a few times before and he didn't say anything.

Honey giggled at how fast it was gone and Mori gave her another slice. That was gone in a split second, too.

"You must be hungry," one of the boys' clients said. "You're eating it as fast as Honey-senpai eats cakes!" As if on cue, Honey inhaled a whole slice of cake.

"Well, I'm wasn't that hungry, actually," she said, licking a bit of filling from her lips. "But once I saw the pie I couldn't help myself. I think my stomach emptied itself to make room."

"Want some more?" another girl asked, picking up another plate of apple pie. "I'll trade you for that piece of chocolate pie beside you," she added with a nod to a plate of chocolate pie. Aki picked it up and switched plates with her.

_Last one, promise, _she thought, sticking her fork through the pie.

While she ate, she looked at the girls. Well, more specifically, the spots on the table in front of them. They all had boxes just like Tamaki's clients did. Thinking back, so did Kyoya's clients. Those must have been full of their gifts. They were larger than the two she got, though, so she wondered how much they actually got. More than her? Maybe she'd ask someone later on.

"I should go," she said once she'd finished up the pie. "Gotta refill the tray."

"Before you do..." Honey and Mori set two more small boxes on her plate. Honey's color was pink while Mori's was dark blue.

"Thanks."

After refilling the tray she, as she sort of expected to be, was called over by Hikaru and Kaoru. They stole her tray and ate almost half of the sweets, saving the rest for their clients, then made her stand up and show off the dress. The girls seemed to like it, but she just thought it was plain. Pretty, but plain.

She sat next to Hikaru, but somewhat regretted it because whenever the attention was off of him he nudged her with his arm or leg or messed with her hair or pinched her hand. Part of her wanted to sit beside Kaoru, but she thought that he'd probably do the same thing.

At some point Hikaru threw his arm around her shoulders and poked her cheeks, going on about "Puppy" this and "Puppy" that, adding in that she was cute and then Kaoru mentioned it and the twincest got going.

"I'm going," she said. She got up and walked off a little slowly, waiting for them to say "Hold on!" and give her their own boxes like they'd given to their clients. They never did.

Finally she went to Haruhi's table. She hadn't been called over, but she figured that since she'd already hung out with the others she might as well hang out with Haruhi. Haruhi didn't say anything against it, she just gave Aki a smile before re-focusing on her conversation with one of her clients.

Aki liked Haruhi's table. Hers and Kyoya's seemed to be the calmest while Tamaki's and the twins' were not. Honey's and Mori's were in between. Haruhi kept most of the focus on her clients and occasionally talked to Aki, but for the most part they hardly talked to each other. Aki offered some samples to the girls and they cleared out the tray like the others had (Aki helped out some). Sometimes if one of the girls weren't focused on Haruhi, they'd start talking to Aki, but it didn't last for too long because their attention would go back to Haruhi.

It wasn't until Kyoya announced the end of club hours that Aki remembered that she was actually working. She'd gotten lost in a story Haruhi was telling about her middle school during White Day. Somehow the girl had managed to not say anything about herself getting any chocolates. Aki didn't know if she had or hadn't, but she assumed she had. She'd seen a picture of Haruhi when she was in middle school and she was very pretty, pretty enough to catch the attention of a bunch of guys. Not that she wasn't pretty now, it's just that she was very pretty and not as boy-ish looking.

The girls left with their boxes. Aki checked through one of her boxes, the red one, and found a diamond pendant. She literally froze. The chain was silver and at the end of it was a small diamond rose. Whichever way she turned it, the rose sparkled with multiple colors.

_What the hell?! _she thought. This was a lot more than three times what she'd given him! The necklace could probably pay for half of her debt!

The necklace stunned her so much that she didn't notice the twins appear beside her. She jumped and nearly dropped the tray when they called out to her.

"What?" she snapped at them.

"Jeez, calm down, Puppy," Kaoru said. "We're just trying to give you your gifts." At that he and Hikaru placed boxes on the tray, one light blue and the other pale orange.

"These, too," Hikaru said before they put two white chocolate truffles and two mini brownies on the tray. She stared at the sweets for a moment, then frowned at the twins.

"These are from the table!" They just smiled.

"You did say you wanted us to give you chocolates," they said.

"Not like this!" She huffed and shook her head. Well, she was done waiting for them to give her chocolate. This was fine, in a way, even if she wanted something she hadn't already had. "Whatever. Hey, I need to ask you something."

"Go on."

"Did all the girls get this?" she asked, pointing to the necklace. They nodded.

"Yep," Hikaru said. "The boss got the same necklace for everyone just like everyone else got the same gift for their clients."

"The boxes they had are filled with our gifts to them," Kaoru added. That made her feel better, but she was also amazed that Tamaki would buy something so expensive for all those girls. Well...actually...no she wasn't.

"I'm afraid to look in the other boxes if they're going to be like this," she muttered.

"What did you expect?" Hikaru said. "We _are_ rich."

"I _know_, but still. This is just...really expensive." She shook her head.

"How about you look through the other boxes?" Kaoru asked.

"Why?"

"We want to watch."

"You already know what's in them, don't you?"

"Yeah, of course, but we want to see your reactions!"

"I don't think –"

She was cut off by the doors opening and nearly slamming against the walls. Everyone looked over and saw Rei standing in the doorway with her hands pressed against the doors.

"I'm sorry, Miss Noguchi, but club hours are over," Kyoya said. Rei shook her head.

"I'm not here for that!" she said. "I need your guys' help!"


	13. Chapter 12

"Is something wrong?" Haruhi asked. The hosts and Aki had moved the couches so they were in a semi-circle with a single loveseat in front of them. The hosts sat on the couches (all of them back in their uniforms) while Rei sat on the loveseat with Aki, per her request. They all stared at Rei while she finished her cup of instant coffee.

"Well, yes and no," she said, setting down the empty cup. "You guys can help people get together, right?"

"What?" Aki sat up straighter and stared intensely at Rei. She never told her that she had a crush! "You have a...?"

"Really? Who is it?" Tamaki asked, and excited smile on his face. "Is he cute? I bet he is! What's his name? Which class is he in? How long have you liked him for?" Kyoya rolled his eyes.

"It's not for her," he said.

"Right! It's not for me!" Rei said quickly. "It's for Emiko."

"Really? Is it about that guy she's had a crush on?" Aki asked. Emiko still hadn't told her who it was.

"Emiko has a crush?" Haruhi asked.

"Emi-chan's got a crush!" Honey exclaimed. "Cute!"

Rei nodded and smiled. "It is really cute. Emi's so adorable when she talks about him! Oh, anyway, I need your help in getting them together."

"Why are you asking for help?" Hikaru asked. "Shouldn't Emiko be asking us?"

"I tried to get her to, but she doesn't want to ask. She doesn't even want you guys to know."

"So why'd you tell us, then?" Kaoru asked.

"Because if someone doesn't step in then they won't ever, _ever _get together! And I can't try to push them together or else she'll be pissed off at me. Plus, since you guys deal with love-type stuff on a daily basis, I thought you'd be better suited to get them together."

"We'll do it!" Tamaki said. "Of course we will!"

"Do we even have a say in this?" the twins asked. Tamaki ignored them.

"C'mon, guys, it's Emiko," Aki said.

"I think we should help," Haruhi said. "It's not like it's too hard, and we'd be helping to make someone happy."

"It'll be like with Kanako-chan and Tohru-kun!" Honey added. Haruhi frowned a little.

"I hope it won't be like that..."

"The one with the dance?" Aki asked. She remembered Haruhi telling her about it a while ago.

"Yeah."

"Although there won't be a dance this time," Kyoya said. "And we won't make up a dance just for this," he added when Tamaki opened his mouth. "It's better to do something simple instead of something unnecessarily complex."

"Wait, can we just find out about this guy first?" Aki asked. "Who is he?"

"Shouldn't you know?" Hikaru said. She shook her head.

"Emiko never told me."

"Right, her crush!" Rei's eyes sparkled. "Well...he's in Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai's class...dark hair...blue-ish green eyes..."

Mori raised an eyebrow. "Hisao Higa?" he said. Rei grinned and nodded.

"Bingo!"

_Hisao Higa?_ Aki remembered hearing that name before, but she couldn't remember where or when.

"Hisao, huh?" Kyoya muttered, scribbling in his book. She wasn't sure, but she thought she heard a bit of disappointment in his voice. But, that couldn't have been right. The only time Kyoya ever seemed to be disappointed was when things were related to finances.

"Emiko's had a crush on Hisao-senpai for the _longest time_," Rei said, spreading her arms to emphasize how long it had been. "Hisao's noticed her a couple times and he's really nice to her every time, so she's been falling more and more in love with him –"

"Love?" Aki asked, skeptically. "Are you sure it's love?"

"Well...no...but it could be!" Rei shook her head. "Anyway, we need to make Hisao realize this and realize that he love..._likes_ Emi too – 'cause, seriously, who wouldn't? – and the best way to do that is set them up on a romantic date!"

"But do you think just setting them up will make him fall for her?" Hikaru asked.

"No, but it'll show him that Emiko's a wonderful girl and that he should give her a chance. So, can you guys help me set up a date?"

"Of course!" Tamaki said. "Honey-senpai and Mori-senpai can make sure Hisao-senpai goes to the date, you, Aki-chan, and Haruhi-ch...kun can make sure Emiko-chan goes, and the rest of us will make sure everything is perfect!"

Rei grinned. "That's just what I was thinking! But, I want to help make sure everything is perfect. This is for Emiko, so I should oversee the date itself. Aki and Haruhi can handle getting her there. She and Aki are best friends after all, and she does admire Haruhi-kun, so it won't be hard for them to get her to the date. But don't let them know it's a date! It's got to be a secret!"

"Are you sure Emiko would like that?" Aki asked.

"She loves surprises! And a date with Hisao...there's no way she wouldn't like it!"

"Do you think Hisao-senpai will like it?" Haruhi asked. "Maybe Emiko will, but he might not. What if he doesn't even like her at all?"

"Way to put it nicely," Kaoru muttered.

"Well..." Rei fidgeted a bit uncomfortably. "I was...I was kind of counting on him liking her too."

"So you don't even know if he likes her, and yet you're setting them up?" Haruhi said, frowning a bit.

"He will! He's got to!" Rei sighed. "Honey-senpai, Mori-senpai, could you find out if Hisao likes Emiko? Romantically? Even a little bit is okay."

"You got it, Rei-chan!" Honey said. Mori nodded.

"Where were you thinking of setting up this date?" Kyoya asked. Rei was silent, and after a minute he raised an eyebrow. "You didn't think of a venue?"

"Well...no...but, I was thinking of somewhere on a balcony so they could see the stars. A romantic, outdoor setting, you know?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Aki said. "It's still chilly out, especially at night."

"Not really romantic when the people on the date are shivering," Hikaru added.

"Ah! But Hisao could give Emiko his jacket to keep her warm, and if she's still cold he could put his arm around her!"

"Maybe you could keep them inside," Aki said. "Even though that's a good excuse for them to be close, there's no telling if Hisao would actually do that."

"He's done it before. Given his coat to someone, I mean, and once he had an extra jacket and gave it to Emi when she forgot hers."

"Okay...well, I wouldn't want to be shivering on my date. Plus, what if it's raining? You'll have to put them inside anyway."

"We could do it here," Tamaki offered. "The date will be after school, so we'll have time to make everything perfect."

"Oh, I was planning on doing the date on Saturday. Next Saturday!" she added when she saw almost everyone's eye widen. "This Saturday would be too short notice! Plus, there's all next week to convince Hisao. So, can we do it?" She looked between Tamaki and Kyoya. Tamaki nodded and Kyoya shrugged.

"I don't see why not," Kyoya said. "We'll have to discuss details later, though. It's getting quite late, and I know Aki doesn't like to be late."

"Huh?" Aki looked around for a clock and once she found it her eyes widened. "Oh man! I'm so late!" She jumped up and grabbed her bag and jacket. "We're done, right? I can go?"

Kyoya nodded and she took off. She needed to get to the station before the next train left before she could get to it, whenever it left. She could walk if she had to, but her Mary Janes weren't made for walking very long distances. Good thing they weren't high heels, though! That would be awful!

"Where were you?!" Mrs. Nakamura cried. "You were supposed to be back a long time ago!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Aki said, standing in front of the woman with her head bowed low. Her heart had been pounding in her chest ever since she realized that Mrs. Nakamura was in her home. First was from the shock of seeing her sitting in the living room, and second at the fear of realizing that Michiko had put her in charge of waiting for Aki to tell her whatever Michiko couldn't. Or, maybe Mrs. Nakamura insisted that she wait for her instead of Michiko telling her to.

"You could have been kidnapped or raped or killed or...or..or..."

"I'm sorry!"

"And you didn't answer your phone! Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"It was dead. I'm sorry, I forgot to charge it last night."

Mrs. Nakamura was silent. "I want to see your phone."

Aki grabbed her bag and pulled out her phone. Thankfully she wasn't lying or else the woman would have blown up at her.

"Here," she said, flipping it open. The screen was black even when opened.

"Fine, I believe you."

"Mama?" Kasumi walked into the room. Aki looked up at her and mouthed, "Help me!" She loved Mrs. Nakamura, but that woman was scary when she was angry with her kids, and she'd said that she considered Aki one of hers, so she was super scary.

"Kasumi? Sweetheart, how did you get in here?" Mrs. Nakamura asked, turning to her actual daughter. Her expression and voice immediately softened. Kasumi glanced at Aki.

"They've got a spare key," Kasumi said, looking back at her mother. "I heard some yelling. Well..._your_ yelling. Is Aki in trouble?"

"Yes, she is." Her voice went back to the hard, cold tone she'd had with Aki.

"What for?"

"She got here later than she should have." Mrs. Nakamura turned her attention to Aki and her eyes narrowed. Aki bowed her head again.

"Huh? How come?"

"Yes, Aki. _How come?_"

"Well, I had to stay behind at my club. We had a meeting and it took longer than I thought it would."

"What was the meeting about?"

"Mama, do you really need to know what it was about?" Kasumi said with a sigh. "It was a meeting. That's enough, isn't it?"

"I want to make sure it was actually something important."

"It was!" Aki said. "My friend, Rei, was asking for help. We – the host club and I, I mean – are going to help her set up a date."

"Really?!" Kasumi's face lit up. "She's going on a date?"

"Why did she have to ask you guys to help her?" Mrs. Nakamura asked, now with a softer tone, more interested in what Aki had to say now. Aki let out a relieved sigh. Now that she knew what was going on, she'd be a lot calmer. Aki knew this from the hundred of times she'd seen Mrs. Nakamura get mad at her family...and others.

"Rei isn't going on a date, Emiko is. My other friend. Rei is trying to get Emiko set up with her crush. We had to talk to her about it and make sure we wanted to do it," Aki explained. "That's why I was late."

"I see...Well, I was just here to make sure you got home safe since Michiko wasn't here. She said you'd be alright, but I insisted. I wouldn't be able to think straight if I didn't make sure you got home safely."

_Knew it, _Aki thought. "Where is Auntie, anyway?"

"She went on her date with Jin."

"Already?"

"It's kind of early for a date," Kasumi said.

"Nonsense!" Mrs. Nakamura said. "There's never a bad time for a date."

"Except early in the morning," Aki muttered.

"No, some morning dates are pretty nice."

"You mean dates in bed, right? Like when Papa brings you breakfast in bed," Kasumi said.

"Yes, those kinds of dates. Anyway, Aki, Michiko said she wouldn't be back until much later. You're welcome to stay at our house –"

"Mama, Aki's stayed at her house alone lots of times..."

"I know, but still...And I'll bring dinner over to you, okay."

"Mama..."

"It's fine," Aki said quickly. "I don't mind. Your cooking is great, anyway."

Mrs. Nakamura smiled and pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose. "Well, I'll see you later then, Aki. And please charge your phone. I don't want to be worried again."

_I don't want you to wait for me again, _Aki thought, but she wouldn't dare say it. She just nodded.

"Are you staying, Kasumi?" Mrs. Nakamura asked. Kasumi nodded.

"I didn't come here just because I heard yelling," she said. "I'm going to stay overnight."

"On such short notice, huh?" Aki asked with a frown. Kasumi gave an apologetic smile.

"Well, then I guess I'll just bring dinner for the both of you." Mrs. Nakamura said. "I'll see you later."

"Bye, Mrs. Nakamura!"

"Bye, Mama!"

And with that she was gone.

Aki fell onto her couch and let out a long sigh. "Your mom's so scary."

"You don't have to tell me," Kasumi mumbled. "But at least she's not angry with you anymore. That's a good thing, right?"

"Right."

"Oh, by the way, I didn't really use the key. The door was unlocked."

"Thank you for not telling your mom. She'd be even angrier with me."

"I know. That's why I didn't tell!" She sat down on the armrest and poked Aki's head. "So can I get all the details about this date for Emiko?"

"There isn't too much just yet." Aki sat up and shrugged. "It's going to be for Emiko and this guy Hisao Higa although we don't even know if he likes her or not. It's also going to be done in the club room, and me and Haruhi have to make sure Emiko goes. Kyoya and Rei are going to work out the details."

"Cool! Hey, maybe you should set me up on a date, too," Kasumi said. "Someday."

"Don't worry, I will. Would you like one under the cherry blossoms when they bloom?"

"Sure!"

"Okay, then it's a date! I'll pick you up in April," Aki said with a wink. Kasumi laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Come on, with a boy."

"What, I'm not attractive enough to make you swing the other way?"

"You're straight, too."

"Maybe you're just that cute."

"Don't think so. Not to make any girl go gay for me! Oh, but you, Aki-chi! So beautiful! I'm sure any girl would go gay for you!"

"I don't think so."

"It's true! Oh...oh no! I think I'm coming on to you, Aki-chi! Your beauty is too much! I can't help myself!" Kasumi threw her arms around Aki's shoulders and tried to kiss her cheek while Aki leaned away. "One kiss, I beg of you!"

"Cut it out, Kasu! Please, oh please, before your cuteness starts to pull me under it's spell!" Aki said in an overly dramatic way. "The cute! It's too much!"

They laughed and Kasumi pushed herself away from Aki. "But, really, it'd be cool if you could set me up on a date," Kasumi said.

"I'll set you up with Nobuo."

"Aki..."

"I'll go and tell him you want to go on a date!"

"Aki, no!"


	14. Chapter 13

Monday

"So how's the planning been going?" Aki asked. She and Rei were sitting at the fountain, eating their lunches.

"Planning?"

"With Kyoya-senpai, duh."

"Oh, right! It's going pretty good. Me and Kyoya-senpai and Tamaki-senpai spent Saturday together, picking out the food, working out some music deals, and other stuff. Hikaru and Kaoru joined later on that day. I think we've pretty much finished all the planning, or at least most of it."

"And have you heard anything from Honey and Mori?"

"No, not yet. I'm going to the club today, so I'll be sure to ask them. I hope they have good news."

"I'm sure they'll have some news. Y'know, I saw them this morning with some guy squished between them," Aki muttered, thinking back to when she had arrived at school. Mori and Honey were in the courtyard with a tall dark-haired boy between them. She could only guess that he was Hisao.

"Hey, Rei-chan," Aki said, nudging Rei's foot. She looked up from her food.

"Mhm?"

"I feel like I should know who Hisao is, but I can't remember. Is he some important person's son or brother or something?"

"You know Keiji Higa, right? The guy that handled the music for the Valentine's Day dance."

"Ohhh!" Now she remembered who Hisao was: Keiji's older brother. He looked a lot like Keiji, so how come she hadn't noticed before? He was like a taller, slightly older Keiji without the glasses and with shorter, spiked up hair.

"Yeah, 'ohhh'," Rei said. "Hisao's Keiji's brother."

"Yeah, I know that now." Speaking of Keiji, she hadn't seen him in a while. One reason could be that she wasn't purposefully keeping a lookout for him. Yeah, that was pretty much the main reason. But then, she could have at least seen him in the halls or courtyard or something, and she never did.

Rei and Aki finished their food, talking more about the cherry blossoms than the date. They hadn't bloomed yet, but soon enough they would.

"And not only is April when the cherry blossoms bloom, but it's also spring break!" Rei said. "I can't wait!"

"Me neither," Aki agreed, nodding. "I'm ready to take a nice, long break from school."

"I hear ya." Rei elbowed Aki and got up. "Come on, we'd better go. The bell is going to ring soon."

Aki nodded again and stood up. They made their way back to the school to put their dishes and trays back in the cafeteria.

"Did you ask Emi yet?" Rei said once the trays and all were put away.

"Ask her what?"

"To hang out! Duh!"

"Oh, right. Well if I had thenyou would have heard me since you were around me and Emiko all day. Duh."

"Right...well, hurry up and ask!"

"Calm down. The date isn't until Saturday, and it's only Monday. You should be worrying more about Hisao than Emiko."

"Yeah, I guess I should...Hey, so since we're talking about dates, how did your aunt's date go?"

"Hm? Oh, it was fine. Auntie was in a great mood when she got back home. She smelled like chocolate and ramen and she had flowers in her hand. Apparently they went to a sweets store that was having a big chocolate thing going on since it was White Day and Jin bought her a lot of chocolate, and after that they went walking around a shopping center and they bought each other flowers and Jin made fun of people. Then they went to some fancy restaurant, but they'd been late for their reservation so they couldn't go and Auntie just took him to a local ramen shop instead."

"That sounds cute!" Rei said.

"Yeah, she sounded like she had a real good time, too," Aki said, a smile on her face. She sort of like Jin and Michiko together. They were pretty cute. It just felt weird for some reason, those two being together. She didn't know why, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with Jin. Maybe because he felt like the older brother she never wanted, and brothers and aunts going out was weird.

They headed back to class, Rei leaving to go sit with Emiko and Aki leaving to go sit with Hikaru, although today was one of the days where he didn't really pay attention to her.

The rest of the school day was uneventful. All she did was take a couple notes, doodle a little during the more boring classes, and keep her eyes on the clock. Finally the bell rang. Aki got up and grabbed her bag, then pushed the twins away when they tried grabbing her.

"I'm walking with Haruhi today," she said. They shrugged and left with a, "Suit yourself."

Aki waited by Haruhi's desk until she'd packed up everything. She didn't speak until she was sure they were out of an earshot of anyone. "Rei's a little impatient for us to ask Emiko to hang out."

"It's only Monday, there's still enough time," Haruhi said. "But we should ask her soon in case something else comes up."

"Yeah. Can we do it tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Great! Okay, now that that's out of the way, how about we talk about other stuff?"

"Like...?"

"Anything. I don't talk to you much, so anything's fine. How about what you did yesterday? I can probably pick something out of there to talk about."

Haruhi nodded. She started talking about her day yesterday while they walked to the club room, and Aki picked up on the food Haruhi had cooked. They started talking enthusiastically about food and how this thing tasted amazing and that thing needs a certain something before it can be considered edible and "Oh my gosh, you haven't tried such and such yet?" and "Did you know there's a sale on this over there?". By the time they had reached the club room Aki was flipping out over the fact that Haruhi had never had fancy tuna.

"You should come over to my house some time," Aki said. "I'll be sure to make you some."

"You know how to make it?"

"No, but it can't be hard. It's just fish. I could make sushi out of it. Probably."

"Maybe I'll take you up on that offer," Haruhi said. Aki grinned, then was pulled to the side by Kyoya so he could tell her what the snacks were for the day.

The club started soon after. Aki did her usual thing, serving snacks and drinks. She passed by Kyoya's table a couple times and when Rei sat over there she could sometimes hear them talking about the date, things like what kind of music did she want and was there a certain type of food or drink she wanted them to have during one of the courses of the meal.

Towards the end of the day when things were winding down and some girls were already leaving to go home or to cram school, she glanced around the room and saw Rei huddled together with Honey and Mori.

"You think the date will work?" she asked to Tamaki and Kyoya.

"I'm sure it will!" Tamaki said enthusiastically. Kyoya just flipped through his notebook.

"Tamaki-senpai!" a girl called from the doorway. She waved him over and he happily jumped out of his seat and hurried over to her.

"You didn't say anything," Aki said to Kyoya. He was silent for a moment.

"You wouldn't like my answer," he said.

"What? Are you saying you want the date to be a failure?"

Kyoya smirked slightly and snapped his notebook shut. "Now I never said _that_. I didn't even say I wanted anything. You're just putting words into my mouth."

"Then what do you mean by 'you wouldn't like my answer?'" she asked in a bad imitation of his voice.

"Is that what I sound like?"

"Kyoya...I want a straight answer. Do you or don't you?"

"Well, for how much it's costing I hope it goes well, but...I'd rather it were different."

Aki groaned. "What does that _mean_?"

"I can't give you the straight answer."

"Why not?"

"Because it would let out a secret that I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

"Kyoya! I need to talk to you!" Rei said, walking over to him.

"Of course. If you'll excuse me, Aki," he said before stepping to the side with Rei.

Aki frowned and turned to walk to the snack room to put the tray and dishes away. Hikaru and Kaoru started walking beside her, all of them silent. No one spoke up until they were in front of the room and she turned around to face them.

"Well?" she said. They raised an eyebrow each.

"Well what?" they asked.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

"What makes you think that?"

"You just look like you want to say something."

They glanced at each other. "Well..." Hikaru started.

"We were wondering about what you and Kyoya were talking about," Kaoru continued.

"You looked like you were irritated," Hikaru added while Kaoru nodded.

"It was just about that date," Aki said with a careless wave of her hand. "I asked him if he thought it would work and he said I wouldn't like his answer, then when I asked him to give me a straight answer he said he couldn't because then he'd let out some secret."

Interest sparked in the twins' eyes. They leaned forward as if expecting to hear more, but she shook her head.

"No hint as to what the secret actually is?" Kaoru asked.

"Nope. Other than it's got something to do with the date, probably having to do with either Hisao or Emiko." Aki paused for a second. "You know, when we were first talking about the date back on Friday, he sounded kind of disappointed. Do you think...maybe he likes Emiko?"

The twins frowned and looked at each other, then they all looked over at Kyoya. "Kyoya-senpai?" the boys said. "Liking someone?"

"I guess it's not _impossible_," Hikaru muttered. "But..."

"He's kind of..." Kaoru pursed his lips.

"Kyoya," Aki finished.

"What are you all staring at Kyoya for?" Haruhi asked, walking over to the three.

"We're just wondering if he likes Emiko," Aki answered.

"Or anyone," Hikaru added.

"Huh? Why would you think he likes Emiko?" Haruhi asked, looking at Kyoya.

"He seemed kind of disappointed when we were talking about the date on Friday, and today he made it sound like he didn't want the date to really work out," Aki said. "Well, he really said he wished it were different."

"But Kyoya liking Emiko? Or anyone? It's kind of...I mean...he's –"

"Kyoya?" Kaoru said. "Yeah, that's what we said."

They all stared at Kyoya, then quickly turned away when he looked around. It was weird to think that Kyoya actually liked anyone in a romantic way. He was just so serious and...she didn't know how to put it. He had that sort of air about him, the air where he wasn't the kind of guy to get involved in romantic relationships.

"What's his secret anyway?" Hikaru said, grabbing everyone's attention. They all shrugged. He looked at them, then a smile crept onto his face.

"What are you thinking?" Haruhi asked.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe we could have a little competition," he said. "To find out what Kyoya's secret is, I mean."

Aki looked at Haruhi and Kaoru. "I guess that wouldn't be too bad," she said.

"Yeah, things have been getting boring lately, anyway," Kaoru said. "A competition would be fun."

"How about it, Haruhi?" Hikaru asked.

"I don't know. I'd rather not get involved," Haruhi said.

"Oh, c'mon, don't pretend like you don't want to figure out what it is either," the twins said.

"It'll be fun," Aki said, nudging Haruhi. "C'mon, Haruhi." Haruhi sighed.

"Fine, I'll play."

"Great! You can be on Aki's team," Hikaru said.

"When did anyone ever mention teams?"

"Now what should the prize be?" Kaoru asked. Hikaru pursed his lips for a moment.

"Hmm...how about if me and Kaoru find out his secret first then we get to go to your houses?"

"Okay," Aki said with a shrug.

"Aki, hold on..."

"And if you guys win, we'll do your work for you at the club," Kaoru suggested, speaking over Haruhi.

"Sounds good," Aki said. "Right Haruhi?"

"I guess so, but..."

"Alright, then it's a deal," Hikaru said.

"And no cheating and telling him what we're doing," Aki said.

"He wouldn't tell us his secret anyway," Kaoru said.

"No outside help, either, so don't go to Tamaki or Honey or Mori for help."

"We won't ask. They probably don't know anything either."

"Alright."

"So it's a deal?" Hikaru asked. Aki and Haruhi nodded.

"It's a deal," they said.

Tuesday

Aki, Haruhi, Hikaru, and Kaoru peered over the back of the couch they all sat on. They stared at Kyoya's table where he was talking to Emiko.

"They look friendly enough," Aki muttered.

"Ugh, how are we supposed to figure out if he likes her or not?" Hikaru groaned, slumping down on the back of the couch. It was only Tuesday but the whole teams concept had basically dissolved and they were like one big team. "He doesn't even have a lovey-dovey sort of look in his eyes or anywhere on his face."

"This is Kyoya we're talking about," Haruhi said.

"Okay, so he doesn't have any sort of look of admiration on his face," Hikaru said.

"He has a master poker face," Kaoru said.

They watched Kyoya and Emiko for a little longer before ducking their heads down when Kyoya looked over in their direction.

"Um, excuse me." They all glanced at Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi's clients. One of them leaned forward. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing, nothing," Hikaru said.

"I think I'm going to go sit with Kyoya," Aki muttered, grabbing her tray. "Maybe it'll be easier actually hearing what he's saying."

"Good luck," Haruhi said as she walked away.

Aki headed to Kyoya's table and sat herself across from Rei. She looked past the look the "what are you doing here?" Kyoya gave her and started up a conversation with one of his other clients about the green tea that coincidentally tasted just like bottled tea she could get in a vending machine, all while keeping an ear focused on Kyoya.

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't been able to make any more picture books lately," he said to another girl. "There might be another one eventually."

_Is he talking about those books Hikaru and Kaoru showed me? _she wondered.

"Aren't you guys going to have a cherry blossom event next month?" Emiko asked. "Maybe you could take pictures there and turn it into a book."

"You should do that!" the other girl said. "That would be so pretty!"

"Ooh, I know someone who is great at photography," another said, cutting off her conversation with Aki.

They continued to talk about the cherry blossom event until their time was up. Aki was slouching in her seat and biting off pieces of a cookie she'd taken from the platter in the middle of one of the two tables.

"I think I'll go now," she said, getting up and grabbing her tray.

"Why were you here in the first place?" Kyoya asked. "It can't have been to talk to Miss Kumagai."

"Sure it was."

"Really? I didn't know you knew any second years aside from myself and Tamaki."

"Oh, sure I do. I know a couple, her included."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"You do know that I was lying, right? Miss Kumagai is a third year in class 3-B."

Aki hesitated. "Well, of course I knew that. I was just messing with you."

"I'm sure. What's he first name." Aki was silent. He had a smug smile on his face. "Now what was the real reason you came to sit over here?"

"I like you?" He gave her a skeptical look. "What? A junior can't like her senior?...Okay, so maybe I was here for Rei and Emiko."

"You didn't talk to them."

"You obviously didn't see me and Rei making faces at each other. Anyway, I've got to go. Looks like Honey-senpai's running out of cake."

Wednesday

"Found out anything?" Aki asked Hikaru, turning around and propping her elbows on his desk.

"Nothing," he mumbled. "We tried to be subtle when we asked him yesterday, but I don't know if we were being too subtle or what."

"He's too good," Kaoru said.

"_Or_," Haruhi said. "maybe Kyoya just doesn't like E –"

"SHH!" Aki and the twins said with their fingers to their mouths, drawing attention from the few other people in the room.

"Don't say it so loud, Haruhi," Kaoru muttered. Haruhi sighed.

"Maybe Kyoya doesn't like Emiko," she whispered.

"Then how do we explain that stuff I told you about?" Aki asked.

"I don't know."

"How are we supposed to find out the secret?" Hikaru asked. "If he doesn't like Emiko then we don't have anything else to go on unless we ask about the date all the time."

"How about we ask directly?" Aki suggested.

"You think he'd just tell us like that?" Kaoru said.

"No, but what if we pressure him into it."

Hikaru shook his head. "Kyoya's the one that pressures us, we don't pressure him."

"What if we just wait until the d–" They all gave Haruhi stern looks. She sighed and lowered her voice. "The date. Maybe we'll find out then."

"That's so far away, though," Aki groaned.

"It's only three days away."

"_So far_."

Thursday

Thursday. Only two more days to go until the date. Thankfully Emiko had agreed to hang out with Aki and Haruhi (they'd asked on Tuesday but hadn't gotten an answer until today), so that was taken care of. All that was left as far as she knew was Hisao.

Aki tapped on her tray, looking around the room. She didn't want to sit with the twins and Haruhi today because she'd go right back to watching Kyoya and she was tired of that, and she didn't want to sit with Kyoya because she was tired of him and Emiko wasn't even there today. She hadn't talked to Tamaki or the two seniors much, and she'd been meaning to find out what Honey and Mori found out about Hisao. She'd seen them with him every day in the courtyard before school, and sometimes if she looked out the window during breaks she saw the three of them outside, too.

Aki walked over to Honey and Mori's table and sat next to Mori after setting down an extra cheesecake with strawberry sauce. "Hi."

"Hiya, Aki-chan!" Honey said. She looked around for their clients, but they didn't have any.

"Where'd they go?" she asked.

"The girls? Oh, we don't have any until later," Honey replied. "A lot of them had to go home right away."

"Okay. Makes things easier to talk about then."

"Really? What'd you want to talk about?"

"Hisao. I was wondering if you'd gotten anything yet."

"Oh, yeah! Well, Hisa-chan hasn't said outright if he likes Emiko the way she likes him, but he has made hints that he likes her a little. He even said she was cute!"

"That's good."

"We also asked him if he would ever go on a date with her and he said he most likely would."

"Oh." Was it alright to hint at a date with Emiko? Hopefully he wouldn't catch on.

"Don't worry," Honey said, noticing the slightly worried look on Aki's face. "We didn't talk about Emiko all the time. We also asked the same thing about other girls, so he shouldn't suspect a thing!" Mori nodded. "So did you and Haru-chan get Emiko to hang out on Saturday?"

"Yep. She just said yes today."

"Great! So everything's ready!"

"Guess so. Let's just hope nothing comes up between them and they can't come."

"I'm sure they'll be able to make it." Honey paused looked back at Mori. "Takashi? You're quieter than usual."

_This isn't usual_? Aki wondered.

"I'm just thinking," Mori said. "I have a funny feeling...like something's going to happen on Saturday."

"Something bad or good?" Aki asked. He paused, looking at the table before raising his eyes to look at her.

"Good, I think."

"Well if it's good then it's okay, right?"

"Yeah."

Friday

"It's finally Friday," Aki sighed. She leaned forward but immediately leaned back when she felt a tug on her hair. "Ouch! Hikaru, I told you to get your pencil out of my hair."

"Get you hair out of my pencil," he said.

"It's your fault."

"It's your fault."

"Get it out."

"You get it out."

"Hikaru..."

"Aki..."

She looked back at him and narrowed her eyes. "Come on. It's almost the end of the day and I don't want to be walking around with your pencil hanging out of my hair."

"I told you not to let me play with your hair."

"You never said anything! And I already told you not to play with my hair."

"Ahem." Mr. Watanabe cleared his throat rather loudly, grabbing their attention. "Is there a problem, Miss Fukuda? Mister Hitachiin?" Everyone looked back at them.

"No sir," Aki said.

"No problem at all," Hikaru said. Mr. Watanabe gave them a look before turning back to the board.

"It's your fault," Hikaru mumbled, starting to remove his pencil from Aki's hair.

"It's your fault," she said.

"You were the one that raised your voice."

"You were the one that made me raise my voice."

"I didn't make you do anything."

"Hurry up and get it out before you pull out my hair and leave me with a bald spot."

He eventually got the pencil out with five minutes to spare. He fixed the messy clump of hair before patting her head.

"All done," he said in a cheery voice.

Aki ran her hand through her hair to make sure he wasn't lying. "Good. Now stop playing with my hair."

"I'm bored."

"There's five minutes left. You can take five minutes."

"Five minutes is so long."

"Just wait."

He was quiet for a moment. Then he tapped her shoulder and leaned forward.

"Have you found out anything about the secret?" he asked.

"I was kind of talking to Honey and Mori all day yesterday, so no," she said. "You?"

"Nothing. Do you think we should just ask him straight out?"

"Mm...not today. Tomorrow after the date. Maybe he'll tell us after he sees what happens."

"I hope so. I can't think of what his secret could be and it's really frustrating."

"I know."

The bell rang and they both let out relieved sighs. The class got up and said goodbye to Mr. Watanabe, then started packing up their things and grabbing their bags. Aki waited for the twins and Haruhi by the door.

"C'mon, slow pokes," she said. "The sooner we get done with the club the better."

The club passed by faster than usual. Aki spent most of her time with Tamaki since he was the only one she hadn't hung out with that week. He didn't mind and tried to get her included in conversations and made sure he gave her as much attention as he gave the other girls, just not in the same way. She found it funny how he'd switch between overly friendly to overly romantic whenever he'd turn his attention from her to one of his clients.

Finally the club was over. Aki grabbed her bag and left. Now she couldn't wait until the next day finally came so she could see Emiko hopefully get together with Hisao, and so she could hopefully find out Kyoya's secret.

**A/N: Hey! Sorry that this is a boring filler chapter. I originally meant for it to skip to the date after Rei and Aki were through talking, but then this all happened. It feels sort of rushed, especially towards the end...Anyway, next chapter for sure will be the date. Thanks for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing!**


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